KARACHI, Dec 18: A three-day international workshop on “Interventional Uro-Radiology” got under way here on Monday under the aegis of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT). The workshop was inaugurated by noted radiologist Dr. Rashid Ahmed, the guest of honour.

In his introductory remarks, SIUT Director Prof Adibul Hasan Rizvi said his institution had the honour of organising the workshop of its kind for the first time for a hands-on training to local doctors by world’s well-known professionals like Dr Michael Kellett from UK, Dr Sarwat Hussain from the USA and Dr Tan Bien Soo from Singapore. The training in the fields of image-guided interventional procedures; vascular interventions for haemodialysis patients and other vascular problems; and uro-radiological procedures for minimal invasive methods for treatment of stone or other diseases, is being imparted to doctors as treatment on a day care basis.

The guests from abroad spoke on research works in the field of interventional radiology through which a patient can be treated with minimum discomfort so that he does not need hospitalisation.

Dr Rashid lauded the role of SIUT in the field of medical care for patients and continuous medical education of the medical professionals. Dr Mubarak Ali also spoke at the inaugural session.

• A pre-conference workshop was held at the Dow University of Health Sciences on Monday on the theme of “Infection control in intensive care and neonatal unit” under the arrangement of Infection Control Society Pakistan.

Dr Nizam Damani (UK), Dr Gemani Kumarsinghe (Singapore), Dr Hassan Nokieu Dasterdy (Iran), Prof Shaheen Mehtar (S. Africa), Dr Akbar Khan (UK) and Patricia Lynch (USA) were among the facilitators of the workshop.

• A workshop on HIV/Aids was also held at the DUHS where speakers, including Dr Sharaf Ali Shah, Dr Shehla Baqi and Dr Naseem Salahuddin highlighted the different HIV infection sources. There are about 4,000 HIV-positive cases in the country, said one of the speakers.

• An Integrated workshop on “Management of childhood neonatal illness” concluded at the Paediatric Unit-III of the DUHS and Civil Hospital Karachi. The participants expressed concern over the high mortality rate of infants and children under five years of age.

The facilitators of the workshop belonged to different health institutions. About 20 health personnel from Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammed Khan, Matiari and Sanghar attended the workshop organised with the assistance of Unicef.

• The foundation of a mega cerebral palsy complex was laid on Monday in Gulsitan-i-Jauhar by special students recently. The event was organised by Imran Rehabilitation Centre whereas the organisations to which the students belonged were Ma Ayesha, Scinosa, Bahria College, Karachi Vocational Training Centre, Quaideen Special and Darul Sukoon.