LCCI President unhappy with SSGC; appeals to federal government for intervention

By Syed Sajid Aziz 
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Ismail Suttar, President of the Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has vehemently denounced the grim performance of and false statements by the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) in regards to the uninterrupted provision of natural gas, as well as smooth monitoring of the gas supply to the only organized industrial area in Hub, Balochistan. 

He regretted that the fluctuations in the gas pressure has distorted production and unnecessarily exacerbated the input cost which has led to expensive exports and it has become simply impossible to keep the wheels of the industry rotating. 

Further, the LCCI President remarked that if the boilers stop functioning as a result of the low pressure then entire plants need to be shut down and loss of precious revenue to the national treasury.

“It has now become a daily routine and specially in this time of the year when normally there are no such issues witnessed previously as the pressure issue is normally witnessed in the three winter months but never in the past have we witnessed low pressure during the summer,” Ismail Suttar stated. 

He expressed great resentment on the non-responsiveness of the top management of the SSGC on several appointment attempts to discuss the situation.

He said that if SSGC continued to ignore, a full-house protest outside the main office of SSGC might be needed to get an answer for which seemed to be the only way forward.

“Balochistan, from where entire Pakistan is supplied gas, does not receive in return is highly condemnable, sad and unjustified,” he commented.

The LCCI has requested the federal government to take up this issue very seriously with the SSGC management to urgently resolve the woes put forth in an amicable and by taking all important direct beneficiaries into confidence.

Coronavirus Update: 4 more perish in Karachi

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh’s daily COVID-19 fatalities showed an upward trend on September 8 when authorities in the government confirmed detection of 162 new cases and five related deaths during the last 24 hours, against 136 new infections and two deaths recorded on the preceding day.

According to official data, Sindh having reported six cases on September 2, had recorded a decrease up to one death on September 6. 

The latest five fatalities occurred in Karachi (four) and Shaheed Benazirabad (One), against Pakistan’s total nine deaths on September 8.

Keen observers noted that hospitals in Sindh were needed to revisit their intensive care services in the case of COVID-19 patients. 

The government should also assess the survival rate of critically ill patients at public and private hospitals which have been provided with substantial facilities and finances in the name of the diseases, they expressed the view, saying deaths reflects on the performance of the health providers.

It was learnt that more than a half of the hospitalized patients were undergoing critical phase of the diseases. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his routine COVID-19 status statement on September 8, said that health condition of 157 patients was stated critical by doctors, out of which 18 were utilizing ventilators.

“Sindh at present has 3,104 active cases, including 1,804 those kept in home-isolation, six at the isolation centres and 294 at hospitals,” he added.

The new cases to be registered, during the last 24 hours ending at 8 am on September 8, were at Karachi (87), Kambar Shadadkot (17), Badin (10), Hyderabad (5), Tharparkar (4), Jamshoro (4), Khairpur (3), Shaheed Benazirabad (3), Thatta (2), Umerkot (2). In addition, Dadu, Ghotki, Larkana, Matiari, Sanghar and Sukkur districts reported one case each.

As many as 8,641 samples were examined by the designated laboratories in the province, with a positivity rate of about 2%.

PASNO conducts study of brain tumors

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Brain tumors have one of the lowest survival rates of all types of cancer in Pakistan yet there is little research into the prevalence of the disease, success of different treatment options and ways to improve patient outcomes, the speakers at the inaugural symposium of the Pakistan Society of Neuro-oncology (PASNO) noted at the Aga Khan University (AKU) noted.

The members of PASNO, a multidisciplinary platform spanning researchers, surgeons, oncologists, allied health professionals and basic scientists in the field of neuro-oncology, discussed preliminary findings of a nationwide study that will gather data from close to 50 collaborating centers and will eventually include the treatment history of up to 10,000 patients. 

Preliminary findings from the study suggested that Pakistan doesn’t have as many high-grade tumors as the developed world. However, patients of brain cancer tend to be of a younger age than in the West.

“Neuro-oncology has been largely ignored as a specialty in Pakistan. As a result, not only do our patients continue to receive delayed or suboptimal care, but the skills of our teams remains deficient. Although the data being collected is only a fraction of what will be achieved in the next several months, besides several interesting demographic features it is becoming obvious that a large number of brain tumor patients are receiving fragmented care in Pakistan. This study will help us understand the true burden of brain cancer in Pakistan,” Professor Syed Ather Enam, a neurosurgeon who chairs the department of surgery at AKU and is the founding president of PASNO, observed.

He stressed that a large number of brain tumor patients require a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. While these different modalities of treatment can be carried out at different centers, it all needs to be orchestrated from one hub to obtain the best results, he added. PASNO is the first venture of its kind in Pakistan.

It aims to bring all specialists involved in the management of neuro-oncology to a common platform to improve not just the care of patients but also improve education, training and research in the field. Such societies are now common in developed countries where they have been shown to improve the overall care of patients. 

New developments in the field were also discussed at the meeting including precision medicine, molecular diagnosis, state of the art operative techniques and technologies, and the potential of artificial intelligence to improve the diagnosis of brain tumors. 

At present, neuro-oncologists have to conduct a series of tests and processes in addition to interpreting MRIs, or scans of the brain, to decide on whether to operate on a patient. Artificial intelligence could uncover hidden information in MRI scans, which are often missed by professionals, and help determine which patients really need surgery, the speakers added. 

The participants in the inaugural session of the seminar had the unique opportunity of hearing the perspective of brain tumor patients and caregivers. One such patient, Yasser Latif Hamdani, underwent awake brain tumor surgery in 2017 and then in 2020. After the first surgery, he went on to study at Harvard University and to publish a biography on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. 

The speakers reckoned that platforms like PASNO are coming up in other parts of the world and play a key role in bringing together experts from various cancer specialties to ensure the patient receives comprehensive and optimum care. 

During the inaugural ceremony, PASNO received endorsements from many neuro-oncology societies across the world, including the Society of Neuro-oncology from North America, the European Association of Neuro-oncology, the Asian Society of Neuro-oncology, the World Federation of Neuro-oncology and the International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society. Over 50 speakers from 13 countries participated in the three-day virtual symposium.

Coronavirus Update: Decline in infection

By Mukhtar Alam

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The interior districts of Sindh reported a negligible figure of new COVID-19 infections on September 7 when the provincial authorities recorded 136 new cases, out of 9,394 samples, with two more related fatalities during the last 24 hours in the province.

According to an official data, only 12 out of 28 COVID-19 designated laboratories across the province conducted the relevant tests during the 24 hours ending at 8 am on September 7. 

As many as 10 laboratories at Karachi performed 2,894 tests and detected 100 (3.56%) new cases, against two laboratories located in the interior districts, which examined 6,590 samples and found 35 (0.53%) new infections. 

The province registered two new COVID-19 deaths, one at Karachi’s Korangi district and another one in Larkana, on September 7, taking the overall provincial tally of fatalities to 2,425. 

According to the disease data shown on the national COVID-19 dashboard, the daily infection numbers decreased to 136 on September 7 from 230 recorded on September 5.

In the meantime, the district-wise breakdown of the registered new cases, as per Sindh health department’s daily situation report, came on September 7 as: Karachi (66), Naushero Feroze (10), Thatta (7), Badin (6), Umerkot (4), Ghotki (4), Khairpur (3), Shikarpur (3), Sujawal (3), Dadu (2), Jacobabad (2), Kambar Shahdad Kot (2), Matiari (2), Jamshoro (1), Sanghar (1), Shaheed Benazirabad (1) and Sukkur (1).

Sindh overall has tested 1,064,434 samples, with 130,807 (12%) positive cases. Its figure of patients having recovered from the disease reached to 126,268 as 55 more were cleared by their physicians during the last 24 hours.

There were 2,114 active COVID-19 patients in the province, including 1,783 at homes, six at isolation centres and 325 at hospitals. Among the hospitalized patients, 158 were stated to be critically ill, including 18 put on ventilators, according to the health department’s report.

China unwilling to recognize Arunachal Pradesh

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

China has asserted that they had never recognized Arunachal Pradesh which they considered to be established illegally by India on the Chinese territory.

“We have never recognized the so-called Arunachal Pradesh that’s illegally established on the Chinese territory,” the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, declared during his regular briefing September 7. 

He stated that China’s position on the eastern section of the China and India boundary and China’s Southern Tibet was consistent and clear. 

Responding to a question about five civilians who went missing from Arunachal Pradesh a few days ago, he said, “Regarding the specifics, you mentioned I am not aware of it now.” 

The Chinese and Indian soldiers recently engaged in the most serious border clashes since they fought a war in 1962, leaving as many as 20 Indian soldiers dead during the fight. 

The border covers nearly 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) of frontier that the two countries call the Line of Actual Control and that stretches from Ladakh in the north to the Indian state of Sikkim in the northeast.

95% COVID-19 patients asymptomatic: Study

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

More than 9 out of 10 people infected with coronavirus (COVID-19) experience have had no symptoms of the disease, a new study, carried out by the Aga Khan University (AKU) researchers, revealed.

Karachi has the most COVID-19 cases in Pakistan and the study saw AKU faculty investigate COVID-19’s prevalence in parts of the city with high and low rates of transmission in the community in April and June 2020. 

They found out that 95 percent of those who tested positive for COVID-19 through blood tests, which register the presence of antibodies to fight the disease, reported feeling no symptoms of the illness such as a cough, fever or sore throat. In other words, they were asymptomatic. 

The proportion of asymptomatic cases in Pakistan is much higher than the developed world. Since asymptomatic people do not seek hospital treatment this may help explain why Pakistan’s hospitals have not been under the same strain as in Spain and the UK, according to researchers. 

The results also indicated that children and adolescents are just as likely to catch the disease as adults. Men and women face the same risk of being infected. 

The study also confirmed a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases between April and June this year from 0.2 per cent to 8.7 per cent in low community transmission areas such as Ibrahim Hyderi, and from 0.4 per cent to 15.1 percent in high community transmission sites like Safoora Goth, Faisal Cantonment, Pehlwan Goth and Dalmia/Shanti Nagar.

These results were in line with the federal government’s national seroprevalence study where antibody testing found that overall, 11 percent of Pakistanis had contracted the disease.

“The sharp increase in antibody levels in an area with low reported cases indicates that the virus continues to spread unchecked in populations where testing rates are sub-optimal,” Dr Imran Nisar, an assistant professor at AKU and co-investigator on the study, remarked.

Over 2,000 participants were engaged in the first two phases of the study. The researchers are currently undertaking a third serosurvey and plan to do a fourth in September 2020. These surveys will show the impact of easing lockdowns around Eid-ul-Azha and the impact of the Muharram processions on the coronavirus transmission rate in communities.

"Antibody testing or seroprevalence provides a true picture of the burden of COVID-19 as they capture asymptomatic cases who represent silent carriers of the disease. Understanding how, when and in what types of settings, COVID-19 spreads is critical to developing effective public health and infection prevention measures to break chains of transmission,” Dr Fyezah Jehan, an associate professor at AKU and co-investigator on the study, explained.

AKU’s Dr Nadia Ansari and Dr Mashal Amin as well as US-based international collaborators Dr Bailey Fosdick and Dr Daniel Barremore also contributed to the study.

Educational institutions allowed reopening in phases from September 15

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Sindh Minister for Education, Saeed Ghani, has declared that educational institutions in the province will reopen from September 15 to 30 in phases, while observing the relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

In accordance with the federal government’s decision, the institutions will be allowed to start conducting teaching for classes IX and above, including the higher seats of learning, from September 15 while classes VI to VIII will resume from September 22 and pre-primary and primary classes will be getting underway from September 30. 

Meanwhile, the All Private Schools Management Association Sindh (APSMAS), has welcomed the decision of the government and assured strict compliance of the SOPs in conducting classes and all other activities at the campus. 

The APSMAS Chairman, Syed Tariq Shah, in his video, released soon after the government decision earlier in the day, agreed to implement all the SOPs in letter and spirit. 

It may be recalled that the majority of the schools throughout the country have been closed since February when coronavirus (COVID-19) was confirmed to have reached Pakistan while the universities and all other educational institutions have been kept shut on government orders since the middle of March.

JPMC to setup free tomotherapy machine

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi, is in process of setting up what is reported to be the first state of the art and world class tomotherapy equipment. 

The tomotherapy machine has the unique feature that provides high precision treatment of cancer radiation, especially for breast cancer as well as cancer treatment among kids. It can even hit the tumor even from a 360 degree angle.

The JPMC, located in the cantonment area of Karachi, caters to a colossal number of patients on a daily basis and its emergency services are known to be the most efficient in the metropolis.

Coronavirus Update: No death in Sindh after almost six months

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh, already overwhelmed by the officialdoms claiming COVID-19 has lost its intensity in the country, reported no related death on September 5 when the authorities in Karachi confirmed detection of 230 more infections during the last 24 hours across the province.

Moreover, the gap between the infected ones and those who got recovered from the diseases was also shrunk significantly in Sindh. 

As many as 2,152 more patients were cleared by the healthcare providers on September 5 after completion of their COVID-19 treatment, taking the tally of the cured people to 126,164 (97%), out of 130,483 positive cases, for the province, while about 2% lost their lives. 

Sindh had reported its first COVID-19 fatality on March 19 when a 77-year-old patient, a cancer survivor and hypertension case also, with a total of 217 existing cases on the day. The second such death had occurred on March 28 and since then the province registered one or more deaths every day till September 5. 

The province, according to official data, updated on September 4, registered a maximum of 904 COVID-19 deaths in June, while the tally was 817 for July, 385 for May, 186 for August, 109 for April, 13 for September and eight for March. The highest one-day tally of deaths was witnessed in Sindh on June 28, with 74 deaths. Earlier, 48 and 49 deaths had occurred on June 17 and June 18 respectively. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a message tweeted on September 5 that almost after six very difficult months they had no COVID-19 death in Sindh.

Resuming his statements after a gap of few days, he disclosed that there were 1,897 active COVID-19 patients across the province, including 1,578 at homes, six in isolation centres and 313 at the various hospitals, adding that as many as 141 were in the critical phase, while 16 were put of ventilators, as of September 5.

He urged people not to forget wearing a mask and keep themselves and their families safe.

Keen observers feared that the sighs of contentment were not going to be permanent in the given condition. The number of daily infection was still higher in Sindh, on the other hand the designated hospitals have not been able to check the cases turning critical and seeking ventilator intervention, the last hope for them in the intensive care units, they remarked.

In all 9,738 samples were tested for COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 2.36%. Karachi reported 120 (52%) new cases, followed by Mirpurkhas (14), Hyderabad (8), Badin (7), Kambar Shadadkot (5), Shaheed Benazirabad (5), Dadu (4), Larkana (3), Naushero Feroze (3), Shikarpur (3), Umerkot (3), Jamshoro (2), Khairpur (2), Sukkur (2), Thatta (2), Ghotki (01) and Jacobabad (01).

Deeper agri sector cooperation sought with China

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing, called on Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, at Islamabad in which the latter called for deeper cooperation in the agriculture sector for the country's food industry.

"Agriculture plays an important role in Pakistan's economy. It is also a big source of job opportunities for the labour class,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister pointed out. 

He stressed the need for cooperation from China for paving the way for bringing about the green revolution in Pakistan. 

Shah Mahmood recalled that China had brought about a revolution in the agriculture sector that greatly helped improve its GDP, adding that it’s very important for Pakistan to benefit from the Chinese experience. 

The Chinese Ambassador assured that his country was keen in setting up in cooperation with the research centres for prevention of diseases in plants and FMD zones.