KARACHI
The World Kidney Day is celebrated each year to bring awareness about chronic kidney disease. The day was observed by Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) at three centers - Karachi, Sukkur and Kathore.
A total of 982 people underwent physical examination. Experts at SIUT said the results showed an alarming rise of risk factors for chronic kidney disease in our population.
This year results when compared to that of past four years particularly 2009 showed that the number of obese people increased from 28 per cent to 41 per cent and hypertension increased from 15 per cent to 24 per cent.
There is also an increase of diabetes from 12 per cent to 16 per cent and renal stones from 6 per cent to 7.5 per cent. Chronic kidney disease was diagnosed in 3.6 per cent as compared to 2.5 per cent in 2009.
SIUT is the only center which provides free screening including blood, urine and ultrasound tests and affected people are given consultation by dieticians and physicians.
This year the day focused on Acute Kidney Injury. Organ failure, especially renal failure, has become dilemma for Pakistan as 20,000 people die in the country because of kidney failure, which is really a matter of concern not only for health experts but also for the government and every common man as well.
The experts said there was an urgent need to bring awareness about hypertension, diabetes and obesity in our population as these were the main risk factors for chronic kidney diseases.
Workshop on health:
Lahore waste management company’s Turkish contractor OZPAK organised a training program for their field staff on health and Safety on Thursday.
The objective of the program was to train janitorial staff about the use of personal protective equipment while performing duties in the field and to aware them about internationally followed standard guidelines in this respect.
Training workshop was attended by Project Coordinator Ismat Sevuk, Assistant Project Coordinator Dawood Makki, Operation Manager Usman Noori, Manager Health and Safety Warasat Waris, representatives of Unicef and some two hundred janitorial staff of the company. Project Coordinator OZPAK Ismat Sevuk said that this training session would help enhancing professional capacity of the staff especially the proper use of personal protective equipment would enable staff ensuring their good health and safety. Workshop lasted for seven days in Town Hall, Lahore.
Partnership:
Educationists, industrialists, policy makers, government officials and representatives of business community discussed public sector education system on Thursday.
The ‘Adopters’ Appreciation Event’ was held by the Sindh Education Foundation to showcase the progress and the achievements attained by its ongoing ‘Adopt a School Programme’.
More than 100 participants discussed past achievements and future challenges in the implementation of the programme.
The event brought forward the success stories and highlighted the efforts put in by the adopters.
On the occasion, SEF MD Prof Anita Ghulam Ali talked about the history of the Adopt a School Programme and commended the commitment of the adopters for their input into the initiative.
She said many children had could have access to better education by their efforts.
Meanwhile, SEF Director Aziz Kabani also gave an overview on the public-private partnership model used in the Adopt-a-School Programme.
He said that public schooling is a benchmark for educational standards internationally but inverse was the case in Pakistan.
He said that education standard in Sindh was even lower than other parts of the country.
He said that privatization of education sector turns the education into commodity and only well off can get benefit from it.
For this reason, he said, it was essential to improve the quality of public schooling and make education accessible for everyone.
He stated that Public-Private Partnership was only solution to the problem.
Later, Guest Speaker Elahi Buksh Baloch, Regional Head Strengthening Participatory Organizations, gave a presentation on conflict and community mobilization. He stated that educating someone who comes from an underprivileged background will bring about change in their lives.
He said that proper steps should be taken for successful community developments for the most effective results.
Reputable adopter Lt General (r) Moinuddin Haider also attended the event. After the discussion, the stakeholders were given adopter appreciation shields.