Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) authority has refused to include traffic rules awareness, adulterated food and 36 infectious diseases awareness in the curriculum of public schools.

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) has strongly condemned the authority and said that manuscript and curriculum wing had discarded the recommendations of traffic police, Punjab Food Authority and young doctors to include awareness about traffic police rules, adulterated food and 36 infectious diseases in the curriculum of public schools.

YDA Pakistan Secretary Dr Salman Kazmi said that directors were opposing the initiative because they were not getting any benefit out of this initiative.

The YDA said that thousands of people were dying due to traffic accidents, hundreds were falling victim to cancer due to adulterated food and fake drinks and thousands were dying of infectious diseases.

Kazmi told Daily Times that the book made by around 20 doctors of Mayo Hospital has details of 34 infectious diseases with pictures, infection symptom and detail suggestion about precaution measures which are communicable.

He went on to say that the government has also introduced a book on dengue fever disease and this book was prepared by irrelevant persons. The book was prepared around 17 pages and a special period also continued in schools from children.

In this regard, senior’s doctors took imitative to save the lives of innocent citizens especially for children on the special direction of government of the Punjab as well as health department request. This book was prepared by 20 doctors including Dr Salman Kazmi, Dr Umair Ashfaq, Dr Farhat Abbas, Dr Zameer Mir, Dr Bilal Mehmood, Dr Sarwat Saif, Dr Dr soaid Zyed, Dr Dr Muhammad Takki, Dr Asad Raza, Dr Sheraz Saddiq and others of Medicine and pediatrics department of Mayo Hospital.

The YDA General Secretary said that all senior doctors has made this book keeping in view the facts that in last four years 150 peoples have died because of Dengue, 230 babies died because of measles, 45 Children died due to diphtheria and 10 due to Congo fever, whereas the already existing book of 17 pages made by Punjab Education department was in sufficient to address the menace of infectious diseases.

The book made by Doctors of Medicine & pediatrics department of Mayo hospital will help save Thousands of lives in futures by educating the public and school going children about these diseases.

YDA Pakistan has appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of the situation.

Published in Daily Times, December 20^th 2017.