Indus Development Fund’s First Charity Golf Tournament in Canada a Resounding Success 

Karachi, September 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):Eighty-eight golfers took part in Indus Development Fund’s (IDF) first Charity Golf Tournament in Toronto, Canada, on September 11, 2021. The golfers took part in an exciting day of golf playing to raise funds for physical rehabilitation, prosthetic limbs, physiotherapy, and psychological therapy to patients at the Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN) in Pakistan.

Pervaiz Ahmed, Executive Director, IDF, Dr. Akhter Hamid, Member, IDF, and Aftab Rizvi, Board Director, IDF, led the presentation ceremony. They shared the journey of Indus Hospital and Health Network with the audience. They spoke about how IHHN started in 2007 with only one hospital, The Indus Hospital, Korangi Campus, and has since grown into a network of 13 hospitals and several pre-primary to tertiary care centers across Pakistan. The golf event was sponsored by Trivision Broadband and Telecom Inc. and Greenidge Natural Health.

For more information, contact
The Indus Hospital (TIH)
C-76, Sector 31/5, Opposite Darussalam Society,
Korangi Crossing, Karachi – 75190, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-35112709-17
Fax: +92-21-35112718
Email: crd@indushospital.org.pk
Website: http://www.indushospital.org.pk/

Nottingham, Leicester Face-Off in Charity Cricket Match for Indus Health Network UK 

Karachi, September 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):Cricket enthusiasts and Indus Health Network UK’s supporters gathered to view the first match between Leicester and Nottingham in a charity cricket match at the Goosedale Sports Club in Nottingham, Midlands on September 12, 2021. The 35-over hardball match was played to raise awareness and funds for healthcare services provided by Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN) in Pakistan.

Match results

The Leicester team won the toss and elected to bat first. The Leicester team took advantage of the batsman-friendly pitch and scored 236 runs in 35 overs. In response, the Nottingham team could only manage to score 214 runs, giving away seven wickets in the process. Leicester won the game by 21 runs.

For Nottingham, Sagheer Akhtar, Mubeen Salik, Khurrum Mirza, Maaz Abid, Abid Ali, and Nasrullah Khan were the standout players. For Leicester, Kashif Ashfaq, Shams Ashraf, and Usman Jadoon were the star players. Leicester’s Naveed Sheikh was recognized for his overall performance and was award Man of the Match.

Post-match ceremony

The beautiful 100-acre campus featured breath-taking natural scenery with a historic landmark from the 17th century serving as the backdrop. Friends, colleagues, and families joined the evening to cheer the teams from both cities. Dr. Shahid Latif, captain of the Leicester team, received the winner’s trophy, and Abid Ali, the vice-captain of the Nottingham team, received the runner-up’s trophy.

At the post-match-ceremony, Ibrahim Jamali, Director of Indus Health Network UK, invited all the participants to be part of this life-saving mission for Pakistan. Community leaders Dr. Musharraf Hussain, Dr. Irshad Soomro, and Haji Abdur Razzaq, presented both the teams with medals. The event was organized with the support of Dr. Amir Burney and Naveed Qazi, who are committed long-term supporters of IHHN’s cause.

For more information, contact
The Indus Hospital (TIH)
C-76, Sector 31/5, Opposite Darussalam Society,
Korangi Crossing, Karachi – 75190, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-35112709-17
Fax: +92-21-35112718
Email: crd@indushospital.org.pk
Website: http://www.indushospital.org.pk/

Let’s eliminate Rabies together: Experts weigh in on World Rabies Day

Karachi, September 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):Rabies Free Pakistan (RFP) held a webinar on September 22 to commemorate the World Rabies Day 2021. The webinar was attended by government representatives in Islamabad, bureaucrats, health professionals, members of WHO, and animal rights activists from around Pakistan.

Rabies Free Pakistan is a joint venture of Getz Pharma Private Limited and Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN). It was established with the objective of eliminating Rabies from Pakistan. RFP project, an initiative of Getz Pharma and IHHN, was inaugurated in 2018. It is geared towards the eradication of rabies from Pakistan by 2030 (Zero by 30) using the One Health Approach.

The Webinar Session

Major General Amir Ikram, Executive Director, National Institute of Health, Islamabad started the session with an opening note. In it, he presented an overview of the rabies issue in Pakistan.

Representatives of all provinces briefed the audience on the status of their respective provinces. In the second session, ‘One Health and Strategic Planning’, health and environment experts talked about the impact on the human ecosystem.

Dr. Naseem Salahuddin, Head of Department of Infectious Diseases, IHHN, and Member WHO Expert Panel for Rabies emphasized that Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) against dog bites is being given incorrectly by healthcare workers (HCWs) due to lack of awareness and training of the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. “For Rabies prevention clinics with a high number of dog bite victims in low and middle-income countries, it is essential to train HCWs to follow the 2018 PEP guidelines that promote a low-dose intradermal schedule spread over one week,” she shared.

Dr. Naseem added that the use of Rabies immune globulin in severe wounds. “This has proven to be highly effective in preventing rabies, as well as economical and affordable for such clinics,” she added.

Aftab Gohar, Manager of IHNN’s PEP Clinic, presented the RFP’s origin and the work they have been performing daily in parts of Karachi to vaccinate and surgically sterilize stray dogs. He explained that the RFP program follows international standards and WHO-approved protocols for this program in Pakistan.

“The is not just to eliminate Rabies, but also to control the dog population. The RFP team is working on all fronts, including advocacy and policy level, to ensure that all stakeholders currently involved in dog culling in Pakistan undergo a paradigm shift towards humane methods of vaccination and animal birth control (spaying and neutering) to control the dog population,” he added.

Rabies Free Pakistan team has achieved various milestones in the fight against Rabies after successfully scaling up project operations. It has vaccinated more than 30,000 dogs and neutered around 7,000 dogs since 2018.

The concluding remarks were given by Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Pakistan, on the importance of making Rabies a notifiable disease, adopting a strong surveillance system, and policy interventions for a national strategy to deal with Rabies prevention.

For more information, contact
The Indus Hospital (TIH)
C-76, Sector 31/5, Opposite Darussalam Society,
Korangi Crossing, Karachi – 75190, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-35112709-17
Fax: +92-21-35112718
Email: crd@indushospital.org.pk
Website: http://www.indushospital.org.pk/

Women are important part of society, women have established their importance in every sphere of life: Ch Parvez Elahi 

Lahore, September 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):Chairperson Nation Commission on the Status of Women Nilofar Bakhtiar along with a delegation called on Speaker Punjab Assembly Ch Parvez Elahi at his residence here today (Thursday). Delegation included Ruhi Syed, Shaista Bukhari, Nabeela Malick, Suleman Shah, Shahid Iqbal Kham and Zain ul Abidin.

Ch Parvez Elahi said that the women are essential important part of the society, women have established their importance in every sphere of sphere, our party not only raised voice at every forum for empowerment of women but also took practical steps. He said that the society is not complete without women, regarding the rights of women the women parliamentarians in the national and provincial assemblies are playing their positive role, providing them protection and rights is collective responsibility of all of us.

Thanking Ch Parvez Elahi, Chairperson Nilofar Bakhtiar said that during your tenure as the Chief Minister Punjab women had got rights, your tenure was the ideal one in term of rights of the women during which for the first time in the history stipends were fixed for the school going girls.

For more information, contact:
Mediacell, Pakistan Muslim League
30-C, Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi Road,
Gulberg-II, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35878428
Fax: +92-42-35877329
Website: www.pmlmediacell.com

Election of Mufti Taqi Usmani as President Wafaq ul Madaris is indication of better future of Deeni Madaris: Ch Shujat Hussain, Parvez Elahi 

Lahore, September 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President and former Prime Minister Ch Shujat Hussain and Speaker Punjab Assembly Ch Parvez Elahi established telephonic contact with newly-elected President Wafaq ul Madaris Maulana Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani and congratulated him on being elected unopposed as Wafaqul Madaris President and expressed best wishes.

Ch Shujat Hussain and Ch Parvez Elahi described the election of Mufti Taqi as the President of Wafaq ul Madaris as the indication of better of religious institutions (deeni madaris). They said that under the president-ship of religious education services of Wafaq ul Madaris would be further expanded.

Ch Shujat Hussain said that election of Mufti Taqi Usmani will be a source of promotion of religious education in the country and be mean of attraction of new generation towards deeni madaris. Ch Parvez Elahi termed the election of Mufti Taqi Usmani as wise and timely. On this occasion Mufti Taqi Usmani thanked Ch Shujat Hussain and Ch Parvez Elahi and appreciated their and their family’s love for ulema and deeni madaris and expressed the hope that they will continue the process of every possible cooperation with deeni madaris and Wafaq ul Madaris like always.

For more information, contact:
Mediacell, Pakistan Muslim League
30-C, Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi Road,
Gulberg-II, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35878428
Fax: +92-42-35877329
Website: www.pmlmediacell.com

WIT to Carry out Climate Technology Market Assessment in Pakistan for GRASP 

Lahore, September 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) is implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) – the joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) – with active participation from local partners. The project is funded by the delegation of the European Union to Pakistan.

Aimed at poverty alleviation, GRASP is working to build the SME sector in the country by focusing on rural communities in 11 districts of Sindh and Balochistan each. Pakistan makes it to the top ten countries vulnerable to the impacts of climate change almost every year. It is therefore important for SMEs to be able to build their resilience and have the capacity to adapt to changing conditions.

The project has outlined its objectives in outputs, and one of them is to promote climate-smart agriculture practices and technologies in selected value chains, and to build the capacities of agribusiness and environmental technology service providers.

The core objectives of the call for technical proposals included:

Assess the state of climate technology market in horticulture and livestock across Pakistan

Provide a menu of options to guide GRASP to support the innovation of climate technologies

Their commercialisation and adoption in the horticulture and livestock value chains in Sindh and Baluchistan

For this purpose, Centre for Water Informatics and Technology (WIT), LUMS has been selected to carry out the Climate Technology Market Assessment in Pakistan for GRASP. The team comprises of Dr. Abubakr Muhammad, Dr. Mahmood Ahmed (Team leader), Dr. Fozia Parveen, Miss Tabeer Riaz, and Miss Saleha from LUMS while Mr. Faisal Baloch, Mr. Shamoon Sadiq, Mr. Salman Abbasi, Mr. Tanveer and Mr. Qurban are a part of the bigger team as external and local support in Sindh and Balochistan.

The team will assess the state of climate technology market in horticulture and livestock across Pakistan, provide a menu of options to guide GRASP to support the innovation of climate technologies, as well as their commercialisation and adoption in the horticulture and livestock value chains in Sindh and Baluchistan.

From this research, an analytical report on the state of climate technology market will be derived, which will outline a menu options for the promotion of climate friendly technologies, and livestock and horticulture value chain to support GRASP implementation. A number of consultative stakeholder workshops will be planned across Islamabad, Sindh and Balochistan to facilitate the process and validate the reports by taking expert opinion on the matter.

For more information, contact:
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
D.H.A. Lahore Cantt. 54792
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35608000
Fax: +92-42-35725048
Website: www.lums.edu.pk