70 quack centres sealed

LAHORE : Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) while continuing with its crackdown in nine cities sealed another 70 quacks’ centres on Friday.

A spokesperson for PHC said the PHC teams raided quacks’ centres in in Lahore, Faisalabad, Vehari, Pakpattan, Multan, Rawalpindi, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar and Sargodha. The teams were accompanied by officials of the district administration and police.

The teams visited 259 treatment centres and sealed 70 of them, while 81 quacks had quit their businesses.

11 quacks’ centres were sealed in Rawalpindi, nine each in Faisalabad and Vehari, eight each in Pakpattan, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar and Sargodha, while four in Lahore.

Conference on mental wellbeing inaugurated: Punjab University (PU) Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmed has said the behaviour and values of any individual must be given importance.

He was addressing the inaugural session of a national conference titled “Impact of Global Challenges on Mental Wellbeing” at PU’s Al Raazi Hall here on Friday.

The two-day conference is jointly organised by PU Centre for Clinical Psychology (CCP), Pakistan Association of Clinical Psychologists (PACP) and other institutions.

Prof Niaz Ahmed said the universities must contribute to the betterment of society and help improve living standard of the people. He said PU was making efforts to resolve psychological issues being faced by the people and was providing various services on campus in this regard.

Prof Dr Anees Ahmed, VC of a private university, said, “We should also take care of the intellectual health and think whether we enjoyed intellectual freedom? He said, “We should solve indigenous problems with local solutions and learn the art of managing stress, anger depression, etc, in our own way.”

PU CCP Director Dr Saima Dawood said the conference was aimed at providing professional training to professionals and trainees to deal with mental health issues.

The conference will continue on Saturday at a private university in Lahore.

Eminent professionals and students from the field of mental health from all over the Pakistan are presenting around 125 empirical research papers in 18 scientific sessions.

Meanwhile, a delegation of journalists from Thailand called on the PU VC. The delegation comprised Thailand’s news anchor of Channel 3 Dr Runhthip, editor-in-chief of Thai News Agency MCOT Mr Watched in Setkudan and Thai Public Broadcasting Service’s reporter Mr Thiptawan Teeranipong.

PU Registrar Dr Muhammad Khalid Khan, Institute of Communication Studies in charge Dr Noshina Saleem, External Linkages Director Dr Fouzia Hadi Ali and others were also present.

The VC briefed the delegates about the PU and expressed his resolve to enhance mutual cooperation between the two countries in different academic areas, including journalism. The VC said that the PU administration wanted to enhance links of the university with world’s leading academic and research institutions and industry. He expressed the resolve that PU would strengthen academia-industry linkages in the field of journalism too.