Campaign launched for family planning: minister

LAHORE:Punjab Minister for Population Welfare Colonel (R) Hashim Dogar has said that the Punjab Population Welfare Department lays great emphasis on providing quality family planning services to the people throughout the province.

He said this while speaking at a seminar on family planning at University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Tuesday. The seminar was organised by Punjab Population Innovation Fund (PPIF).

The minister said that the increase in population was an alarming situation for developing nations, therefore, being a Pakistani, everyone had responsibility to play their due role in the development of the country.

He added, “Every person in our society has responsibility to concentrate on the quality instead of increasing the number of children.” He said poverty and ignorance were the main reasons of rising population and only education could tackle it.

The minister said that education especially for women was vital to educate the whole family. He added a district level campaign had been launched by the department to educate the people about hazards of unchecked population growth. Under the campaign, social mobilisers would visit the homes of married couples to apprise them of the utility of family planning as well as use of latest contraceptive methods, he said, adding, the services of religious scholars would also be utilised to make the campaign a success.

UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Akram said concrete steps were needed to control the growing population. "If attention is not paid to this serious issue, it will be difficult to handle the problems arising out of it in the years to come," he added. He stressed the need for work on an urgent basis to control rapidly growing population. He stated that help of ulema might be sought to raise awareness among people about the issue.

He was of the view that information about thalassaemia and genetic disorders specially be incorporated in the counselling programmes. Prof Javed said, “By 2050, Pakistan would become third most populous country in the world which is not something we should be proud of.” PPIF Chief Executive Officer Jawad Ahmed Qureshi and Population Association of Pakistan president also spoke on the occasion. Youth representatives from Institute for Social and Youth Development gave a theatrical performance highlighting the important of family planning.