1,705kg rotten fruit, vegetables discarded

LAHORE: Following the instructions of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Punjab Food Authority is taking all necessary steps to ensure the provision of healthy and adulteration-free safe food during Ramazan across the province.

In this connection, food safety teams visited 8,302 small and big stalls at Ramazan Bazaars in the last three days. The teams discarded 1,705kg unwholesome food, including 900kg spoiled fruits and 805kg rotten vegetables as well as served warning notices on 1,460 stallholders over minor violations of the PFA Act.

This was informed by PFA Director General Captain (R) Muhammad Usman. He said that teams not only discarded the impure food items but also collected the samples of 17 essential commodities for laboratory tests. He said that PFA was checking Ramazan Bazaars on a regular basis which established in Punjab for the public. He said that food authority in collaboration with administration concerned working with full efforts to ensure the supply and availability of top quality food in Ramazan Bazaars.

He said that no compromise on the quality of food items would be made and strict action would be taken against the violators in order to maintain the defined standard for the foodstuff in the Punjab Pure Food Regulations 2018. PFA is checking the open markets round-the-clock besides Ramazan Bazaars. He added that people can inform PFA about adulteration mafia and food-related issues on its Facebook Page, mobile application and Toll-Free number 0800-80500.

health professionals: Punjab Healthcare Commission on Friday completed three-day training of doctors and other staff of the Lady Willington Hospital on the Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS).

These 24 trainees included senior doctors, paramedical staff and others, while Asst Prof Dr Muhammad Saeed was the focal person on the training. PHC Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Mushtaq Ahmed Salariya told the session about the working of the commission, which had developed the MSDS for all kinds of healthcare establishments (HCEs), and the trainings were imparted to the qualified and registered health professionals for implementing these standards in their respective HCEs to improve the quality of the healthcare services. “More than 80 percent of the HCEs have come under the regulatory ambit, while a robust anti-quackery campaign is being continued as well,” he added.

Moreover, 28 family physicians and 15 staff members of different hospitals of Rawalpindi were also trained on the MSDS. In these workshops, training was imparted on continuity of treatment and care, patients’ rights and awareness, facility management and safety, infection control, management of medication, human resource management and effective arrangements for the waste disposal.

It is pertinent to mention here that so far the PHC had conducted 622 workshops for the training of 23,863 health professionals and managers of over 19,400 HCEs. Awami Iftar dinner: An ''Awami Iftar'' dinner for the public was arranged at the Governor's House here Friday which was attended by almost 2,000 people and Governor Ch. Muhammad Sarwar greeted them and individually met every visitor.

The people raised slogans and were cheered up when they met the governor and they also took selfies with him. Workers shed light in some issues and Governor Muhammad Sarwar assured them of resolving them as early as possible.