Category: Health

KASUR: As many as 24 out of 48 policemen selected for drug test in the district were found `positive` on Tuesday.

The drug tests of police officials are being conducted on the orders of the prime minister to bring reforms in the police department.

The Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) has issued directives to conduct the drug test of of ficialsranging from constables to the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers.

Samples of 48 of ficials, including constables and assistant subinspectors(ASIs),werecollectedin the district a couple of days back for the drug test. Interestingly, no policeman above the ASI rank was listedforthe drugtest.

According to the district police, the officials were selected for the drug test on the basis of internal intelligence reports.

The district police got the samples tested from a private lab, instead of any public hospital`s laboratory.

Explaining the choice, District Police Officer Imran Kishwar said that private lab was more reliable as compared to those of public sector hospitals. As per sources, a majority of the policemen found using drugs were constables.

A police of ficial, requesting anonymity, said the process of drug test was similar to that used for declaring common suspects as addicts during the course of investigation at the police station level.

ISLAMABAD:The lowest number of deaths and cases of coronavirus infections was reported on Tuesday in the country for over eight months.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 27 deaths and 663 cases of Covid-19 were reported in a single day. On October 20 last year, 660 cases were reported.

The number of active cases, which had topped 90,000 in April, stood at 33,452 as of June 22, while 271 ventilators were in use across the country.

Meanwhile, several people complained of errors in vaccination data and expressed fears this might become a problem for them in future.

However, an official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) claimed that over 13 million doses had been administered and only a few hundred persons faced problems regarding data entry.

He urged them to contact the vaccination centre or the helpline to get their issue resolved. A man told media that he had received the first dose of Sinovac on May 20 and waited for four weeks to getthe second dose.

`As vaccine was not available across the country, I waited for a while. Later, I checked my status by sending SMS to 1166, but was shocked to see that according to it I got my second dose on June 17,` he said.

Another man lodged a complaint with the Ministry of NHS that the vaccination certificate downloaded from the official website showed that he got his second shot well before the first one.

ISLAMABAD: As complaints of shortage of Covid-19 vaccines were being received from all federating and administrative units of the country, 1.55 million doses of Sinovac vaccine reached here from China on Sunday.

Half of the consignment was offloaded at Islamabad airport after which a special flight took off for Karachi to deliver the remaining doses ofthe vaccine there. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, who is also the head of NCOC, has claimed in a tweet that around 5m more doses of the vaccine will arrive by the end of the current month.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has claimed that 2m to 3m more doses of Covid-19 vaccine will arrive by the end of the current month.

According to an NCOC statement, a special consignment of Sinovac vaccine comprising 1.55 million doses arrived at the Islamabad airport through a special PIA flight.

`This is part of a planned contracted quantity purchased from China. China, as a time-tested friend of Pakistan, has taken special measures to ensure uninterrupted supply of the vaccine to Pakistan.

`Another consignment of 2 to 3 million doses of the Chinese vaccine will be reaching Pakistan next week followed by continued supply. Measures are in place to transport these vaccines to all federating unit s according to their requirement,` the statement added.

A spokesman for the Pakistan International Airlines said a PIA flight (PK-6852) carrying the shipment ofdoses of Sinovac vaccine landed at the Islamabad International Airport at 11.30am.

He said a special PIA flight would bring 2m doses of the vaccine from China on June 22 as the national nag carrier had been using Boeing 777 for the relief operations.

ISLAMABAD: Expressing concerns over the reports coming from various parts of the country regarding shortage of Covid-19 vaccine, major opposition parties the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday accused the government of committing a `criminal negligence` and called for audit of the coronavirus funds.

PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif asked the government to stop playing with the lives of people and make arrangements for immediate supply of vaccines keeping in view the fact that the total population of Pakistan is 220 million.

`The government must change its shallow-minded approach of ordering a few million doses and working with the vaccine supplies given to Pakistan as charity. The una-vailability of the vaccine is another proof of the government`s criminal negligence and incompetence,` the PML-N president said in a statement on the day Pakistan received another consignment of over 1.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from China.

Mr Sharif said the opposition had repeatedly warned that failure to ensure timely vaccination would not protect the lives of people from the deadly virus. The government, he said, was erring and delaying the supply of vaccines in the same way it had handled the supply of LNG which led to massive losses. But this time round it was a matter of life and death ofPakistanis,he stressed.

Mr Sharif alleged that the `opportunists in this corrupt government` who had already bagged billions of rupees in illegal profit in sugar and flour crises were now trying to seize this opportunity as well to make money at the cost of lives. `It is unfortunate that the government is showing the most serious display of criminal negligence in the matter of people`s lives.

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif has expressed grave concern and alarm over the unavailability of COVID-19 vaccine in the country.

In a statement, issued here on Sunday, Shehbaz said the government should make arrangements for immediate supply of corona vaccine and should not play with the lives of people.

He said the government should chalk out plan by keeping in mind the population of Pakistan in this regard.

“The government must change its shallow-minded approach of ordering a few million doses and working with the vaccine supplies given to Pakistan as charity. The unavailability of the corona vaccine is another proof of the government’s criminal negligence and incompetence”, Shehbaz said.

He said the opposition has repeatedly warned that failure to ensure timely vaccinations will not protect the lives of the people from the deadly virus. The government is erring and delaying the supply of vaccines the same way it handled the supply of LNG which led to massive losses, but this time round it is a matter of life and death of Pakistanis, he stressed.

The opportunists, in this corrupt government that bagged billions in illegal profit in sugar and flour crisis, were trying to seize this opportunity as well to make money at the cost lives, he pointed out. It is unfortunate that the government is showing the most serious display of criminal negligence in the matter of people’s lives, he said.