The absolute imperative of identifying and notifying cases of tuberculosis on February 14, 2021As we approach Valentine’s Day let us resolve to be compassionate and kind, spread solidarity and love in our work, ensure that nobody is stigmatized regardless of any consideration and not ostracize patients if they suffer from a communicable diseases like Tuberculosis. Above all let us resolve to speak up, stand up and step up […]
WORLD AIDS DAY 2020 on November 30, 2020As we observe the World AIDS Day this year in Pakistan, under the shadow of the second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and another silent pandemic of Tuberculosis, let us do so with a resolve to ensure continuity of priority health services, come hail, rain or sunshine. While Pakistan acquitted itself admirably in the first […]
Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan (part II) on June 14, 2020It is also said that Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan, who was facing the biggest challenge of her lifetime, was confronted with evidence of those involved in the plot to eliminate her husband and she chose discretion. She may have learnt some lessons from Ms Fatima Jinnah’s case who defied the powers that be and […]
Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan (Part-I) on June 13, 2020First prime minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan travelled from the capital Karachi to Rawalpindi to address a public meeting. The late afternoon of October 16, 1951 found him in the (British East India) Company Bagh of Rawalpindi poised to address a crowd of around 100,000 people. As he rose to speak, an Afghan national […]
Honoring the nurses and midwives of Pakistan on World Health Day 2020 on April 2, 2020The world’s foremost nurse Florence Nightingale knew it all. Ordained by her inner voice to serve humanity, she was hard on herself as she went about creating what the modern world now calls the nursing profession. Transformational leadership has never been easy She is on record as having said, “There is no part of my […]
Tuberculosis: the silent pandemic on March 18, 2020Tuberculosis or TB is the leading cause of death among infectious diseases and one of the top 10 causes of death globally. It is caused by a bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which usually attacks the lungs but can affect other sites of the body as well. Around a quarter of the world’s population is infected with […]
Attainment of universal health coverage in Pakistan: issues, opportunities and challenges on December 13, 2019As we celebrate the International Universal Health Coverage Day of the United Nations today, we need to be cognizant of certain facts in our country’ context. Health policy development took off with a slow start after the creation of Pakistan. In fact, during the first decade of our existence, we did not go beyond convening […]
Mr Jinnah and his secret battle against tuberculosis on September 9, 2019As Mohammad Ali Jinnah walked into the Viceregal Lodge in Delhi to meet its new tenant, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, on April 5, 1947, history will always record that he was haughty and disdainful. Earl Mountbatten of Burma, as he was called, was a cousin of the King of England, and had only […]
Tuberculosis control in Pakistan: Part-II on March 21, 2019An important and unprecedented development on TB control in recent times was the first-ever high level United Nations General Assembly meeting on tuberculosis held in September 2017 where world leaders pledged to increase overall global investments for ending TB at least $13 billion annually by 2022 and seek $2 billion for closing the estimated $1.3 […]
Tuberculosis control in Pakistan: Part-I on March 20, 2019Tuberculosis (TB) is spread by an airborne microorganism calledMycobacterium Tuberculosis. World TB Day is actually the remembrance of the discovery of that organism 137 years ago and an occasion to remind ourselves of its serious ramifications not just in our national context but globally. The disease was virtually untreatable in the absence of any drugs […]