No laxity can be tolerated in polio campaign: minister

LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Health Dr Yasmin Rashid has directed to take strict action against officers showing negligence in forthcoming polio campaign. She said 42,307 mobile teams were taking part in the upcoming polio campaign starting from April 22.

She said this while presiding over a meeting at Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department. Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Lahore Deputy Commissioner Saleh Saeed and EDO Agha Toheed and other officers concerned were also present.

The meeting stressed the need for accelerating the polio campaign in sensitive union councils including Lahore. A comprehensive awareness campaign has already started in Punjab. Strict instructions have been issued that no child of less than five years of age should be left without administering polio vaccine during the campaign. The minister said complete training of vaccinators should be conducted before starting the campaign. She said all the vaccinators should be provided complete anti-polio equipments. No laxity will be tolerated in the campaign. She said this time not notice but action will be taken in case of any negligence.

Christian delegates: Executive Director CSJ, Chairperson People’ Commission for Minorities Rights Peter Jacob called on Provincial Minister for Human Rights & Minority Affairs Ijaz Alam Augustine at Human Rights Office on Wednesday to discuss issues of minorities.

Peter briefed the minister about a conference held recently in Islamabad to urge the federal and provincial governments to undertake effective measures to ensure the right to education without discrimination.

He told the minister that the agenda of the conference was removal of hate material from educational curricula; educational quota for minorities in higher education institutes and expansion of subject options available to minority students.

The minister told Peter that Punjab government was providing financial assistance to the brilliant and deserving students including minorities. He said recently more than 84 million rupees had been distributed as educational scholarships among brilliant and deserving minority students of South Punjab.

The minister praised Christian youth saying that they have emerged as a talented and productive segment of the society.

AIDS awareness: The Punjab AIDS Control Programme in collaboration with Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) organised a poster competition to raise awareness among youth especially young women regarding HIV/AIDS epidemic in Pakistan.

Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Deputy Secretary Vertical Programmes Dr Fauzia Khan was the chief guest of the event, whereas LCWU Student Affairs Director Bushra Nadeem, PACP Manager Operations Mohsin Arshad, and students participated.

While addressing the students Dr Fauzia said, “It was a pleasure to judge all the posters, indicating real vigor and enthusiasm, these poster competitions are part of our mission to reach out to the masses to raise awareness, especially among the youth so that they may further transmit this message to their peers and friends”. The director student affairs appreciated the efforts of PACP to curb the spread and raise awareness regarding HIV/AIDS. She stressed upon the need to broaden the areas of cooperation, especially ones of mutual interest.

The event concluded with the prize distribution ceremony where certificates and cash prizes were distributed among the winners.

Students’ convention: The 2nd International Students’ Convention 2019 under the auspices of Inter-Universities Consortium, University of Education, United Nations Center of Information started on Wednesday.

The inaugural ceremony of three-day convention was attended by Prime Minister Task Force Chairman on Science & Technology Dr Attaur-Rahman, Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Hamayun, Vice-Chancellor University of Education Prof Dr Rauf-i-Azam,VCs of different universities and other prominent scholars and educationalists. Addressing the opening ceremony, Dr Atta said the real wealth of a nation was its human resources without which no country could progress. It was not the natural resource but the human resources which shaped the destiny of the nations.