ISLAMABAD, July 26: India and Pakistan should allocate more funds for providing better health facilities to their peoples.

This was stated by Dr Deepak Chawla, who, along with another colleague, Dr Rahul Sachdev, from India, was attending a day-long seminar, titled “Ultrasonography” here on Saturday.

The seminar organized by the Ultrasound Society of Pakistan (USP) provided a platform to health experts to share their knowledge about the new discoveries and emerging trends in the field of Ultrasound. Renowned specialists and consultants made presentations on the subject.

The main topics covered on the occasion were sonographic detection of fetal skeletal malformation, clinical application of colour doppler, interventional ultrasound, fetal hypoxia, renal concretions versus con-creations etc.

Dr Chawla, a senior radiologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, spoke on 3D ultrasound in gynaecology and role of ultrasound in male fertility. His vivid presentation was much appreciated by the audience.

“It was an excellent talk that enriched my knowledge about the subject,” a young doctor said.

Dr Chawla, who travelled to Pakistan on Lahore-Delhi bus service, described his first visit as “a dream come true to be in the land of his ancestors”. My grandfather was a doctor, who practised in Jaranwala, Lyalpur (now called Faisalabad), he said while talking to Dawn.

Answering a question, he said: “The response here is very friendly.” He said doctors in the subcontinent had the potential to compete with the doctors in any part of the world. He expressed his desire for early normalization of ties between the two countries.

Dr Iqbal Ahmed Malik, in his presentation, said telesonography was not a new idea, and was already being practised in developed countries. For doing telesonography, he described three ways i.e. store and forward, interactive video- conferencing and remote controlled with robotics. He informed the audience that a basic telesonography system consisted of three components — image sending station, transmission network and an image receiving station.

Other key speakers at the seminar included Dr Musarrat Hasan, Dr Shahida Zaidi (first president of USP), Prof Safdar Ahmed Malik, Prof M. Nawaz Anjum, Dr.M.Saulat Nawaz, Dr Fazeeluz Zaman, Dr Duree Sabih and Dr Ambreen Zafar.

The USP, founded in 1990, is aimed at promoting ultrasound training and enhancing doctors’ skills in the field by hosting seminars and workshops. It has a number of radiologists as members and is affiliated with Asian Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology as well as World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.