Health workers to stage sit-in outside Parliament House on 19th

MULTAN: The National Programme Health Employees Federation Pakistan (NPHEFP) Thursday said the workers across the country will stage a sit-in outside the Parliament House on October 19 for the acceptance of their demands.

Earlier, the Lady Health Workers (LHW) organised a five-day sit-in outside Punjab Assembly in 2018 and then Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif had accepted their demands. Talking to reporters, NPHEFP central president Rukhsana Anwar said they have finalised preparations for the sit-in.

She said districts chapters of NPHEFP across the country have been informed in this regard. She said the NPHEFP leadership had requested the government to entertain their ten-point demands but the government did nothing to mitigate miseries of health workers. She said thousands of lady workers would join the protest as the government was allegedly ignoring their legitimate demands.

She said the lady health workers in national program family planning are facing severe problems after changing the program structure.

She demanded adoption of across the board national policy in family planning and restoration of national program family planning and basic health in its real shape.

She also demanded service structure, promotion, up graduation of all cadres in the national program on the basis of their past services. She demanded immediate reimbursement of arrears of AJK lady health workers. She demanded the government declare all national program employees as civil servants in KP.

14-member panel of PMA elected unopposed: A fourteen-member panel of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has been elected unopposed for 2020-22 on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference, PMA Chief Election Commissioner Rana Altaf Ahmed declared the victory of the whole PMA penal after scrutiny of nomination and withdrawal of papers.

He said Prof Dr Masoodur Rauf Haraj has been elected president, Prof Dr Manzar Ali senior vice president, Dr Rana Khawar Latif SVP-II, Dr Ghulam Murtaza Baloch SVP, Dr Khalilur Rehman Surani vice president, Dr Amjad Bari vice president, Dr Hajra Masood lady vice president, Dr Tariq Waqar general secretary, Dr Sheikh Abdul Khaliq finance secretary, Dr Sharif Shahid secretary information, Dr Zulqarnain Haider joint secretary, Dr Abid Hussein Kanjoo joint secretary, Dr Khurram Malik cultural secretary and Dr Shazia Perveen lady cultural secretary.

Teaching, research activities: Women University Multan Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Uzma Quraishi Thursday said teaching and research activities continued in the varsity amid Covid-19 menace and online examinations and classes were also regularly conducted.

Addressing a ceremony held in the honour of WUM department of English scholar Prof Dr Mamoona Yasmin Khan, who successfully defended her PhD research, the VC said the English department of the varsity is honing students and PhD scholars in a fine way.

Mamoona Yasmin has published her dissertation titled, “A lexicographical investigation into the law dictionary used by the legal community in Pakistan: An empirical study of design features and usage”.

She completed her research under the supervision of Prof Dr Zafar Iqbal (External Supervisor) and Dr Masroor Sibtain (Supervisor).

She defended her dissertation at public defence and spoke about her research topic on which it was recommended by the experts to award her PhD degree. Addressing the ceremony, the VC said this research is an excellent addition to the treasury of law and education which can also bring about a positive change in the legal strategy.

She said that the English department has been successfully continuing its teaching activities.

Controller Examinations Prof Dr Hina Ali, Registrar Prof Farzana Akram, Dr Asmat Naz, Dr Maryam Zain, Dr Sara Mussaddiq, Prof Naila Imtiaz, Chairman Department of English Prof Asmat A Sheikh and teachers also attended the event.

VC’s tenure extended: The Punjab government Thursday extended the tenure of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asif Ali for the next four years.

The government has extended the tenure of Prof Dr Asif Ali for the second time owing to his performance. He was appointed as VC in 2016 when the varsity spread over only four acres in a single story campus.

Prof Dr Asif Ali has served as Director ORIC in Faisalabad University. He has done his PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics from University of Liverpool, UK. He had secured his MBA degree from University of California, US. He has served as researcher, professor at University of Liverpool. More than 100 of his research articles have been featured in national and international journals. He has dedicated more than 15 PhD and 70 MPhil students based on education and research to serve the nation.

He has also worked with the USDA on various "capacity building" projects. He has also been awarded the Best Teacher Award by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

Talking to reporters, the VC said he wants to make the varsity emerge as a top class agriculture university of the world in next fifteen years.