Daily Times

LAHORE: The Alzheimer’s Pakistan organised a grand quiz and a seminar titled ‘Healthy Lifestyle Reduces the Risk of Dementia’ on Thursday with a view to create awareness about the disease among medical students.

Doctors, students, caregivers and people from all walks of life attended the seminar. Leading clinicians including Dr Muhammed Nasrullah of the Wapda Teaching Hospital, Dr Ali Hashmi of the King Edward Medical College, Dr Sadaf Rasheed of the Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Brigadier (r) Mowadat Hussain Rana and Dr Ruhi Khalid, dean of Psychology Beacon House National University addressed the audience on prevalence, diagnosis treatment, management and counseling of People living with dementia and their caregivers.

After the seminar, teams of 13 medical colleges participated in the quiz, which included Allama Iqbal Medical College, Khyber Medical College, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Islamic International Medical College, Central Park Medical Colleges, Rawalpindi Medical College, Rehaman Medical College, Rashid Latif Medical College, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore and Shalamar Medical and Dental College, Continental Medical College, Shalamar Medical and Dental College and Akhter Saeed Medical College Lahore.

In the first phase of the quiz, an awareness campaign was run throughout the month of September in each participating medical colleges and medical students were registered for the quiz. A preliminary quiz was held in all the respective medical colleges on the basis of which top five students from each institution were selected. These students comprised each medical colleges team and participated in the grand quiz finale.

Famous artist Adeel Hasmi was the quizmaster at the finale of the grand quiz. The Islamic International Medical College won the Grand Quiz 2016 and Khyber Medical College came out as runner-up.

At the closing ceremony of the quiz, Alzheimer’s Pakistan Secretary General Dr Hussain Jafri explained the impact of Alzheimer’s disease in Pakistan. He urged the government to implement policies and legislation to provide a better quality of life to people with dementia, both now and in the future.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Yasmin Rashid, patron Alzheimer’s Pakistan, said there were around one million patients with dementia in Pakistan, but this figure would rise sharply in the future. She urged all stakeholders to develop programmes to raise awareness and improve access to early diagnosis and care.

Alzheimer’s Pakistan President Zia Haider Rizvi added: “The quiz has helped in creating awareness amongst future generations of doctors about this growing problem and also highlights the importance of supporting the people with dementia and their caregivers.