| October 17, 2006 | Tuesday | Ramazan 23, 1427 |
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Pakistan’s economic potential
Punjab MPAs’ perks, privileges
The Afghan quagmire
Out of job
Of bans, stern actions and announcements
PAF medical test
Septic basin
‘What India lacks is humility’
Cowasjee’s approach
Readers are requested to restrict their comments to a maximum of 400 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for reasons of clarity and space. Letters, including those by e-mail, should carry the complete postal address of the sender. The views expressed in these columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.—Editor
THIS has reference to your editorials (Oct 1 and 9) and a report by Mr Mukhtar Alam (Oct 3) on dengue fever, besides some letters on the subject.
Enough appears to have been stated about the signs and symptoms of the disease. There are some points which need more emphasis. They relate to both the vector, mosquito of aedes species, and the agent, the virus of the disease. Aedes aegypti, the vector of the disease, is a black mosquito with white bands on its abdomen. It is ferocious in nature and it is not correct to say that it bites only during the day.
Once the female sucks the blood of an infected person, then within seven to eight days the viruses multiply in the mid-gut of the mosquito, reach the salivary glands and make her infective for life.
Some of the viruses pass to the ovaries and hence the disease to the next generation. This vertical transmission is quite a serious situation. Aedes are peridomestic mosquitoes. They tend to breed in any small collection of water, in empty cans, tyres, overhead tanks of houses which do not have proper coverings and even commodes of the empty rooms. They are most of the time living around your houses.
There are four types of the virus called serotypes 1, 2, 3, and 4. All of them have been identified in India and should also be present in Pakistan. Once a person has been infected by one type of the virus and if there is subsequent invasion by the other serotype, then there is a cross-reaction between various antibodies. There is obvious rise of the temperature. Factors responsible for coagulation of blood like thromboplastins are remarkably reduced. There is damage to the endothelial lining of the blood vessels, resulting in exudation of the blood through the gums, through the intestines and under the skin manifested as pindrops or patches of various types.
For transmission of the disease man-mosquito-man chain is necessary. The disease does not spread through blood and other tissues. The type of strict isolation necessary for Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever is not necessary in this case.
Use of personal protective measures like repellents, mosquito nets screening of houses, use of proper clothing, knock-down sprays, elimination of breeding places can help in controlling the disease. An individual effort by throwing some kerosene on small collection or draining out the water from pools around your houses also reduces the mosquito population.
As far as the disease is concerned, it was first diagnosed in India in 1812. Many epidemics have occurred in Southeast Asia but the nearest to us is the one which occurred in India in 1996. There were more than 7,000 thousand cases diagnosed at Delhi out of which 297 died.
It is tragedy of the events that despite a reasonable amount of communication as to the visits by Pakistanis and Indians to each other’s countries there is no official channel to establish a regular exchange of news and expertise on such matters. Pakistan is in the EMRO region and India is in the SEARO region. There is a need to establish some channel on a bilateral basis to exchange scientific data about the morbidity, mortality and control of the diseases which are of concern to us. WHO’s country office can play a more positive and prompt role in this regard. The National Institute of Health, Islamabad, periodically issues alert notices to medical colleges and other health departments. These notices can also be sent to the media.
One point is, however, clear to me that Dengue fever has come to stay for the time being in Karachi. We should remain alert and adopt personal protective measures. While the federal, provincial and district governments may provide more facilities to the hospitals run by them, keeping in view the fact that there is no definite treatment of the disease, community and individual efforts are necessary to effectively control the disease.
DR(PROF) KHALID HASSAN MAHMOOD
Karachi
HAVING fallen behind India and China in attracting foreign investment, the Pakistani government is going allout to persuade western businesses to use the country’s cheap labour and land to make money.
When the world was taking off in the 1980s and 1990s, we were busy with internal politics. This did not provide the continuity that a developing country needs. Countries seek foreign investment to further enhance their economic affluence and not their fiscal depletion. Pakistan has great economic potential, provided the leaders of our country have direction.
Putting forth a banker with an American passport rather an economist to run our country is similar to running a bank, extending credit to the consumer and in return charging lofty mark-ups as tax. Being a banker myself, I can discern exactly how good we are in doing our business.
Investors have no interest in our economic prosperity. They see us as a potential target to make money by using our resources and winding up by making an excuse of our country’s political instability. Pakistan has natural resources, we have human talent, we have a strategic geographical location, and we have brains.
What we need is to channel all these resources by seeing through the western interest and exploit the opportunities to our economic benefit rather to our destruction.
Leadership alone cannot be held accountable for economic prosperity of any country, but it is largely responsible for the situation, as it is the nation’s only governing conduit for international attention.
Our country’s talented citizens with concrete knowledge and exposure also play an imperative role in identifying solutions to help their country and safeguarding its economic future. They should be actively involved in the decision-making process by guiding and taking responsibility of their country’s state of affairs.
NAUSHIR HAIDER MALLI
London, UK
ACCORDING to a news item (Oct 10), dependant family members of Punjab ministers, special assistants, advisers, parliamentary secretaries and members of provincial assembly will get medical treatment at government expense.
Dependant family members include parents, spouses, sons, stepsons, daughters and stepdaughters who would be entitled to free indoor and outdoor medical facilities of the standard admissible to a class I officer of the government.
This is yet another privilege grabbed by self-serving MPAs, unmindful of inadequate medical facilities available for the masses.
In the same issue of Dawn, there is a report that three children died because of alleged negligence of a doctor. The Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the case. The report further reveals other corrupt practices prevailing in the health sector such as doctors persuade the patients to visit them in their private clinics instead.
Even diagnostic equipment like X-ray machine is deliberately rendered non-functional to force the patients to go to private laboratories, mostly owned by them. The same is the position in pathology labs, one out of every three hospital in Rawalpindi had non-functional diagnostic equipment.
The MPAs, instead of ensuring provision of medical facilities to the poor, get for themselves the best medical facilities at public expense.
There is no one to stop them except the Supreme Court may take suo motu notice of the situation.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
YOUR editorial, ‘The Afghan quagmire’ (Oct 9), is an excellent summation of the problems we face with our Afghan neighbour. May I, however, add a little to complete the picture, because an all-important ingredient seems to be the Taliban.
It was in the mid-1980s that American arms and money created the Mujahideen fighters (all trained, armed and sent from Pakistan) who fought and finally ousted the godless Soviet invaders from their land. The present-day Taliban are their successors and are fired by the same spirit.
They are almost all Pakhtoons who inhabit the entire tribal belt on both sides of the border.
And Pakhtoons comprise over 50 per cent of the population of Afghanistan and yet have little or no say in the government in Kabul -– what sort of democracy is this?
President Karazai still walks on the stilts of the Northern Alliance which brought him to power on the strength of American arms, but he has deprived the Pakhtoon majority of proper representation in his government at Kabul.
The present-day Taliban do not all belong to the ‘lunatic fringe’ and large swathes of them can indeed be induced to join in the mainstream of political life (such as it is) in Afghanistan. History tells us that while force seldom works in that country, money certainly does.
The Taliban fighter survives in a mere pittance of only five dollars a day and is certainly vulnerable.
In such an environment, dollops of dollars can bring better results than following Gen Wesley Clark’s suggestion (Newsweek Oct 2) for sending in more troops and killing more and more people on both sides.
S. ASIF MAJEED
Karachi
I BELONG to a very poor Thari family, remained jobless for about seven years after passing my matriculation. However, the director-general, Sindh (health), appointed me as a vaccinator, on a contract basis, vide his order number 2088 dated 10-02-05. I performed my duty at the said post from May 23, 2005 to July 31, 2006.
The director-general of health, Sindh, accorded extension of service for one more year to 47 Thari candidates, who were appointed as vaccinators, along with me, vide his order, 2776/74 dated nil, however for the reason best known to his office, my name was not included in the said list whose contract of services was extended by the DG for another year.
The executive district officer, health, Tharparkar district, officially wrote, vide his letter 2945/48 dated 2-8-2006, to the DG for extension of my service, as I had already served for about one year.
Contrary to all norms of rules and regulations, instead of according approval to extension of my service (in reply to the EDO’s letter), the DG wrote to the EDO, health, Tharparkar, vide his letter 3258-59 dated 29.7.06, mentioning therein that how the EDO had allowed me to resume duty, because the D.G had terminated my service vide his letter 3258.
The EDO (health) informed the DG that his office had not received the DG’s letter under reference, regarding the termination of my service, however the EDO relieved me from duty on Aug 1, intimating the DG for compliance of the DG’s letter (though its copy has not been sent to the EDO).
Although the district nazim, Tharparkar, as well as the EDO (health), urged the DG, when he had come to visit Thar, that as my case was genuine, my services should be continued by granting extensions, on contract, the plea fell on deaf ears.
I am the sole breadwinner of a 10-member family, and would request the Sindh chief minister, as well as the chief secretary, to take necessary measures for the redressal of my grievance.
ABDUL HADI
Janjhi, Tharparkar
FOR the last several years, the Sindh government has made several announcements to reassure the public that all is well and it is in control of the situation. Some of these announcements have included: ban on plastic bags by the governor of Sindh , action against black windows, fancy registration plates and smoke-emitting vehicles by DIG, traffic. Also action against ghost schools and ban on the sale of gutka by chief minister of Sindh, and the prime minister’s promise that the government will control prices of essential items, etc.
All these announcements, bans and warnings of stern actions are welcome, but as the old saying goes: “You can fool some of the public, some of the time, but you cannot fool all the public, all of the time”. But it seems that in Pakistan one can.
We have been directly involved against the ban on gutka, polythene bags and smoke-emitting vehicles with the relevant government departments for the last several years, but the situation remains the same.
As for ghost schools, an education improvement programme was launched in government schools, through an ‘Adopt a School’ programme, in collaboration with the Sindh Education Foundation in 1999, with the help of Lt-Gen (r) Moinuddin Haider, who was governor of Sindh at that time. Over 10,000 ghost schools were exposed just in Sindh and highlighted the pathetic conditions in government schools, due to mismanagement and corruption in the Sindh education department. Most of these schools had lacked basic infrastructure and teachers and a visiting BBC team had described these schools as stables.
Over Rs3 million was raised to improve the infrastructure of 30 such schools, with the help of concerned citizens, which provided with desks, fans, books, windows, doors, toilets, water, etc. But, due to mismanagement and corruption, almost all the equipment that we had provided was stolen and we were forced to abandon the programme. Yet seven years later, the situation remains the same.
As far as the KESC and other bans and stern warnings are concerned, the less said the better, as all these announcements have just fuelled corruption and have raised the cost of bribes and for the law-enforcement agencies to look the other way. If the government is serious abouy improving the quality of life of the citizens, it should enforce the laws and the headline-catching bans and stern warnings, which have become a joke with the public and law enforcers.
HELPLINE TRUST
Karachi
IN April I saw an advertisement by the air force opening doors for girls again. I immediately applied for commission as a fighter pilot. I applied for the 123 GDP course because I had no medical issue concerning my height, weight and eyesight.
Being recommended after taking the ISSB test in June, I had to appear for a medical examination at Masroor air base. I was declared unfit on the basis that I had a central cortical opacity in the right eye. I was informed by the eye specialist that I have a spot in my right eye and they cannot declare me fit.
I immediately went to get a check-up at Liaquat National Hospital, where they told me that it is nothing to worry about as the small, congenital spot was by birth and would ‘never’ affect my vision.
Before sending an appeal to the appellate medical board in Rawalpindi, I had additional check-ups done at PNS Shifa and the Aga Khan University Hospital. Everybody confirmed the finding by doctors at Liaquat National Hospital.
On Sept 21 I appeared before a panel of doctors for the result. I presented my medical reports and they were convinced that the spot is static in nature and they discussed this issue with the doctor concerned.
To my astonishment, the doctor changed my report stating that he had ‘not concentrated’ previously, and now he would write a complete report (after three days).
Without examining my eye, he changed the report making the cortical opacity lenticular and also stated that I have multiple spots in my eye which could combine together and make me go blind.
I was amazed by this new opinion, given the fact that I was never re-examined. I need justice and guidance and I won’t rest until I get it.
AFIA RAFIQ
Karachi
THE Boating Basin in Clifton was a prestigious park, frequented by thousands and called the lungs of Clifton. This basin was connected to the China Creek through the Mai Kolachi swamps. The water was refreshed every day according to the ebb and flow of the tides.
The present state of the basin is pathetic as the Mai Kolachi swamps have been reclaimed and sewerage water is dumped, turning it into the world’s largest septic tank which emanates rancid odours to the surroundings.
Another eyesore is the garbage exchange on the rear of the basin near the Sailing Club where hundreds of trucks load and unload their contents littering garbage on the connecting roads.
The department concerned is urged to shift this garbage exchange to another location and arrange for diverting the sewerage water away from the basin into the sea.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
KULDIP Nayar in his article (Oct 7) claims that Bangladesh is a chaotic fundamentalist state while Pakistan is politically intransigent. Both these assertions seem far from reality.
In fact, India has lately emerged as a fundamentalist state and has lost the saga of secularism according to Nayar’s own articles published in Dawn in the past.
Fundamentalism has a very large following there, so much so that Bharatia Janata Party led by Singh Pariwar ruled the country for years and the chances of the fundamentalists winning the elections in future cannot be ruled out.
Likewise, India is more intransigent politically as the outcome of the last two-and-a-half years of Indo-Pakistan negotiations would substantiate as there has been no agreement on any of the disputes between the two countries.
A few people project the agreements reached on emergency hotlines, pre-notification of missile testing and avoidance of nuclear accidents as success.
It should be recalled that a “bedroom-to-bedroom” hot line existed between the premiers of the two countries during the tenure of Nawaz Sharif.
When a country undertakes a missile test, it is imperative that it informs all the countries so that the aircraft etc. of any country refrains from entering into the relevant air space during the appointed time. Thus these agreements are merely cosmetic in nature.
GHULAM MUHAMMAD
Karachi
THIS is with reference to Mrs Shakoor’s letter about Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column on the president’s book, and his column ‘Ahinsa parmo dharma’ (Oct-8).
I wish he had noticed that Mr Cowasjee was very careful to avoid any mention of the vast entourage that accompanied the president on his book tour to the US, and that apart from the Airbus that was carrying supporters, over 20 journalists were sent on commercial flights with all expenses paid.
I remember Ardeshir Cowasjee providing details of the journalists who accompanied Benazir Bhutto each time she travelled, but why would Mr Cowasjee even raise a peep about someone he affectionately refers to as our ‘General’?
His column is always devoted to ending with Bhutto-bashing because he knows which side his bread is buttered.
After all, Mr Cowasjee can’t afford to offend the general, who provides his huge police escort, can he? Which other journalist is on the receiving end of such government largesse?
WAHID UZ ZAMMAN
Karachi
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