| November 09, 2008 | Sunday | Ziqa'ad 10, 1429 |
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Invoking OSA at FUUAST
Pensioner’s plea
Medical college without registration
Punjab health dept’s clarification
Admission test
Locker firms
Napa’s point of view
Child marriage
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 refers to the different letters published after the article by Dr Murad Khan (Oct 6) on the above-mentioned caption and a report published in Dawn on Oct 13, ‘The drugs and disclosure’ from North American press, which is about the manipulation of scientific data as another tactic used by the big pharma industry.
Enough has been said about the need of professional ethics and regulations, but a part of the said report is worth mentioning here as a quote, which highlights the issue of pharmaceutical influence on medical research.
The tactics included delaying publication of studies that found no evidence that the drug worked for some disorder, spinning negative data to make it to look more positive and bundling negative data with positive finding to neutralise the results ....
Obviously it is quite depressing. If the authenticity of pharmacological research/data is in doubt, then what is left to rely on medical sciences? I wonder if this is the situation in a most advanced country, then what to expect from a Third World country! Indeed it is very hard to believe that a business-oriented research can be of any use in the development of genuine research.
With all due respect to the historical and positive role of well-meaning people of the pharma industry in the development of modern medicine, such an attitude of negative influence on medical student, studies and research is far more serious than the issues raised by Dr Murad.
This discussion has also reminded me about one of my letters published on Oct 12, 2003 about an ointment produced by a leading multinational company (a big pharma!) for sore and crack nipples of nursing mothers, and was amazingly without any essential information mentioned on carton or tube itself, which are otherwise pre-requisite for every conventional medicine or over the counter general health product.
There was no manufacturing/expiry date, no ingredient mentioned, no side-effects indicated, nor was there any information regarding nature of the product, i.e. natural/herbal/homoeopathic, etc.
Quite interestingly, after publication of my letter it was withdrawn from the market for some time but, surprisingly, this never-expiring product is once again freely available with the same strange features as nothing is written or changed except the price which is now of Rs75.
Doesn’t the law require all ingredients, manufacturing/expiry dates and possible unwanted effects to be mentioned on the pack or tube? How can one clear his doubt that there might be adulteration, with local anesthetics for sore nipples and steroids for inflamed condition?
If it is totally safe for both mother and neonate and can be preserved for indefinite periods, then why is it not written clearly on the product? I am quite sure this example is sufficient enough to understand the efficiency of the authorities concerned, professional ethics of big pharma and prescribers of such products.
One can hope that it is a safe product like many others of the same company but it will remain doubtful unless the company/department concerned or representative association clarifies the reasons behind it.
Unlike orthodox medicine, the situation is even worse in alternative medicine. Homoeopathy, which is the second most commonly used system of therapeutics, and is based on highly individualised approach, can never enjoy the status of a business-friendly system of therapeutics.
Hence most of the homoeopathic medicines are being manufactured, packed, and marketed like conventional medicine. This is sheer injustice with the homoeopathic philosophy and with the people who believe in it.
I fully agree with Dr Asma Humayun (Oct 19) that well-meaning people of each side should come forward in order to eliminate the anarchy of powerful majority which is difficult to revamp.
DR ABDUL QADEER KAWAN
Karachi
THIS is apropos of news reports about a ban on providing any information to the media or any other outside source relating to the matters of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Scie-nce and Technology (FUUAST).
The ban was imposed by the temporary Registrar on Sept 22 by invoking Official Secrets Act 1923 (OSA).
The Act reminds us of colonial law that protects the government from the public. In democracy, the public is the government and since the country has entered into a new era of democracy, imposition of the OSA in the public university is a reminder of the old colonial and dictatorial era which denied the people their right of access to information.
The right to freedom of information is now considered to be a customary international law. It is a crucial step towards a deeper and more meaningful democracy.
Information enables people to make enlightened choices, and keep tabs on elected representatives and officials who claim to act on their collective behalf.
It should be noted that FUUAST was established under Model University Ordinance (MUO) avowed by its propagator to promulgate accountability and transparency in public sector universities but this experiment proved the worst case of maladministration and corruption, particularly in FUUAST.
For instance, there is complete non-compliance of rules and lack of transparency in appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff, formation of syndicate not according to the rules enshrined in the MUO, there is no proper representation of teachers in the university senate, and the MBA programme is being run without proper and competent faculty.
It should also be noted that since its inception FUUAST has no permanent registrar and finance director, even the vice chancellor has been appointed recently.
This ad hocism, unaccountability and ambiguity at the top level of the university administration have infected all departments of FUUAST which are now presenting a chaotic picture.
Moreover, the situation has also made the ad hoc administration quite powerful. Since power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely, there is an inherent danger that vast powers available to FUUAST executives may be used not for public good, but for private gain.
It is necessary for people to have as much information about the university as possible. This is because openness and transparency will serve as a powerful check on the abuse and misuse of power by the authorities
FUUAST is a public sector institution and it is the right of the people to have information about what is going on in the university. The issuance of a notice on Sept 22 by the FUUAST authorities curbing the right to access information raises many doubts and serious questions in one’s mind.
What is going on in FUUAST which its administration is hiding from the public eye by invoking OSA at this time, or is this a way to cover up their maladministration and corruption?
The authorities should look into the matter and save this prestigious institution from the trap of those who do not understand the meaning of freedom of expression, right to information, democratic values, transparency and academic freedom.
SAJID HUSSAIN
Karachi
I AM a pensioner. After retirement I placed some of my savings in Behbood Savings Certificates and in Pensioners’ Benefit Account in the National Savings. The profit rate till June was 11.52 per cent per annum.
In June the rates were increased to 13.56 per cent with effect from June 24 and we, like other thousands of pensioners, recycled our investment for the new rates.
However, we had to pay 0.25 per cent to one per cent (depending upon the period of holding) of the capital amount as service charge (or fine or penalty?) for getting new certificates.
Now after only three months the government has again revised the profit rates enhancing these from 13.56 per cent to 15 per cent (increase of 1.44 per cent) with effect from Oct 1.
But to get this new benefit, one has to encash all the investment and to pay this time exactly one per cent on capital investment. The net gain would be barely 0.44 per cent.
The question is if the government wants to give some relief to the old and widows and pensioners, why should it then prick them by charging them one per cent of their total investment (not profit) after just three months?
Interestingly, while in all other schemes certificates are issued by the name in the Pensioners’ Benefit Account, only a passbook is issued and a drawing slip book (cheque book).
In fact, there is no sense of encashing certificates before maturity and in surrendering pension passbook for getting the revised rate of interest. The authorities concerned may consider that:
1. It is sheer waste of precious bond papers and stationery.
2. Waste of working hours of staff and pensioners who have to sit for two to three hours each time.
3. Minimising the relief provided to the old and pensioners.
It is, therefore, suggested that the authorities concerned, who issue original certificates and pension passbooks may endorse the new rates of interest on the certificates and passbooks, along with effective date, putting their seal and signatures.
This procedure can, at least, be adopted in case of Pensioners’ Benefit Account.
It is worth mentioning here that in all banks the rates are automatically revised, particularly on fixed deposits, without the encashment or even endorsement on the documents. It is changed in their computerised system.
AGHA KAFEEL BARNI
Karachi
ESTABLISHED in September 2003, Ghulam Muhammed Mahar Medical College is not yet registered by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.
According to the PMDC Ordinance 1962, unregistered medical colleges are running their MBBS degree courses illegally and any graduate of any unregistered medical college will not be granted an MBBS degree nor will he or she be able to do house job in any part of the country.
It is now clear that the future of some 450 students of the college will be at stake if the PMDC does not register it as soon as possible.
Also, the the PMDC team visited the college on April 25 but denied issuing registration because of lack of proper facilities and severe shortage of teaching and other staff in the college.
The college does not have its own building and is running in a very small health technician school.
Although students have held a number meetings and organised rallies demanding registration of the college, nothing has been done so far to meet the demands of the students.
Also a delegation of students met Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the Circuit House, Khairpur, on Oct 14 and explained to him the problems of the college, whereupon the CM assured the delegation that all their problems would be solved in a week. However, no major headway in the regard has yet been made.
However, provisional health minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed at a meeting with the students in the presence of the principal of the college at Sukkur on Oct 20 promised the students that all the required faculty of the college would be mdae available and the PMDC would register the college during its second visit, which is scheduled in the first week of December.
Also, a delegation of students met Faryal Talpur at the Zardari House, Nawabshah, on Oct 23. Ms Talpur also promised to take interest in the registration of the college to save the future of students.
The authorities concerned should get serious and take necessary steps for registration of the medical college by the PMDC during its team’s coming visit to the college.
STUDENTS ACTION COMMITTEE
G.M. Maher Medical College
Sukkur
THIS is apropos of your editorial, ‘Hospitals without blood’ (Nov 5). The instructions of the Punjab health department regarding safe blood transfusion to patients are not new.
It is according to standards set by the department for this purpose. Health authorities always encourage transfusion of blood of relatives of the patient or healthy volunteer donor, so as to save the patients from addicts’ blood.
It may be added here that the screening of a pint of blood costs Rs500 to the government, and private blood banks cannot afford this cost which results in provision of substandard and unhealthy blood to the patients.
The Punjab government has established blood banks in all the teaching hospitals as well as in district and tehsil hospitals.
There are a total of 123 blood banks in the public sector and 107 blood banks belong to volunteers’ organisations, including Hilal-i-Ahmar and Fatmid Foundation.
These blood banks keep on updating the lists of volunteer blood donors which can be called in during any emergency. It is a common social practice that patients are donated fresh blood by their close relatives or volunteers. And we should discourage use of unscreened blood of addicts or the unknown.
It is further maintained that blood banks of the Punjab health department provided 446,692 blood pints to the needy patients during the year 2007 while the total number of blood bags provided during the first 10 months of 2008 has reached 500,000.
The huge expenditure on the screening of blood pints could only be met by the government and private blood banks could not afford these expenses as they are selling a blood pint at Rs500 to Rs600 approximately. The cost of screening of this blood for hepatitis B and C, HIV AIDS and other fatal diseases is borne by the government and it would continue to do so to provide screened, cross-matched and hygienic blood to the patients.
AKHLAQ ALI KHAN
Public Relations Officer,
Health Department
Lahore
ABOUT 15 years back Sindh Governor Gen (r) Moinuddin Haider introduced entry test for admission to various universities. It was an evident from this that the government of the past could not take effective measures to stop the copying culture at schools and in colleges.
Conducting the entry test for admission is considered as a particular effort of the government to discourage and stop the copying culture, but if the entry test itself becomes a source to promote the copying culture, then what would be the fate of those living in Sindh?
The future of the nation whose educational system is destroyed cannot be said to be bright. Out of 15 entry tests for admission conducted in the past in the medical college or universities of Sindh, only one test was suspected to be unfair, hence it was declared as null and void. Meanwhile, as the remaining tests were transparent, their results were accepted and no protest was made against it.
To make such entry tests up to good standard, the task was assigned to the National Testing Service (NTS), Islamabad, during the last two years. The modus operandi of NTS was satisfactory, every student had to sit at a chair containing his/her seat number written on it, there was sufficient space between two students, blocks were set up and no student could get a chance to sit beside his/her friend, for copying.
An adequate number of invigilators used to keep strict watch over the students, who were restrained from talking with each other. A student was given a ballpen to tick the answers. Ink of the said pen was unerasable, hence its writing could not be tampered with.
When the test was over, the student was allowed to take with him the question paper as well as the carbon copy of his answer sheet, duly ticked by him / her, to enable him / her to verify it and to know how many marks he / she could secure.
The results of entry tests of year 2006 and 2007 were declared within 48 hours.
For the reasons known to the relevant quarters, this year instead of the NTS the task to conduct the entry test was assigned to the Institute of Business Management (IOBM), Islamabad.
As gross irregularities were reportedly committed in the entry test for admission to MBBS at the Hyderabad centre, the students have started their protest against non-transparency of the test. The print and the electronic media have recorded and shown their protest.
As a good number of students have continued their protest till recently in various towns of Sindh, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah is leant to have said that he has reservations about the said entry test and that he would discuss it with the governor.
The students who appeared in the said test have alleged, while speaking at news conferences at various press clubs, that neither the seat numbers were written on chairs, nor were the blocks made and the students were allowed to take seat of their choice, along with their their friends.
The protesting students have further alleged that as the students were sitting in rows very near to the other row, they were seen asking one another the answers to questions and they were openly copying. As there were few invigilators, it was not difficult for students to use unfair means at the said test.
Worth worrying and a matter of utter astonishment for all and sundry is the aspect of the entry test that students were supplied a pencil to tick the answers and the result was declared after a week.
The question arises, is it not easy to erase the pencil-written tick marks with a rubber during this period to get the desired results?
How can an institution be trusted or considered reliable where a deal of millions of rupees has possibly taken place?
The glaring example of copying in the entry test of 2008 is this that the number of marks of first position holders in entry tests of years 2006 and 2007 were, respectively, 297 and 300 (below 75 per cent). However, interestingly enough the number of such students who have secured 75 per cent or marks above 300 is in the hundreds, yes in the hundreds.
Keeping in view the afore-mentioned facts, I humbly appeal to the governor, as well as to the chief minister, to take serious notice of the alleged flaws and irregularities committed in the entry test of MBBS, declare it as cancelled and to reconduct it without any flaws.
RANOMAL MALANI
Mithi, Tharparkar
MOST people seem to be cashing in on the prevailing situation. With rampant surge of black marketing, hoarding, counterfeiting, smuggling and other evils over the country, the one that provoked me to write this epistle is the ongoing blackmail and oppression exhibited by a private locker vault company in Defence, Karachi.
Apart from increasing the locker charges unilaterally, this vault company is trying to extort additional money from old and existing locker holders in the name of ‘key deposit’.
It is interesting to know that the old and existing locker holders had already paid them ‘key deposits’ at the time of opening a locker account.
Unilateral demand of additional sum of Rs5,000 from them is tantamount to unfair trade practices, novation of contract, oppression and black mail. It is also against public policy and law.
Adding insult to injury, the said locker vault company has further demonstrated its illegal action and high-handedness in preventing locker holders from accessing their vaults.
All this is creating fear and suspicion among the locker holders of that company which seems to be losing trust in the ‘bullying vault company’ and one can find locker holders altercating at the site with the manager there and threatened by his armed guards.
Unfortunately, the said locker company is bent upon extorting additional money from its existing locker holders even if they wanted to close their locker account with them.
It’s simple commonsense and lawful for the locker holders to close down their locker accounts, remove their belongings and hand over the locker key to the said company after receiving the previously paid ‘refundable key deposit’ while refusing to pay the vault company any additional money illegally demanded by them.
Will the authorities concerned take notice of this and stop the firm from unlawful activities?
MAZHAR BUTT
Karachi
THE National Academy of Performing Arts ( Napa ) is under discussion these days. Napa has received a legal notice from the Sindh ministry of culture, ordering it to vacate the building within 90 days. Then just after 45 days of the notice it was threatened with a visit by the area police to evacuate the building by force, though half of the notice period was still there in Napa’s account. There are other threats also being hurled at Napa.
The question is: how and why has the Napa management chosen to stay composed in such a situation? This is because the Napa administration chose dialogue instead of action; requests instead of spicy press statements; pledging their talent instead of putting their energies to show street power; believing in understanding instead of bringing up conflicts.
This is because the Napa administration believes that there are many level-headed and serious people who understand what art and culture mean to a wise nation; they still believe that they will be able to rescue this academy of the performing arts from the current crisis in spite of the fact that the Sindh culture ministry wants it vacated.
The Napa administration is waiting for an opportunity to explain its side of the story, believing that it will be heard sympathetically as they represent the artists of this country.
NAPA WEL-WISHER
Karachi
REFERRING to the picture and news item about the reported marriage and subsequent arrest of the four-year-old bride and seven-year-old bridegroom, with their elders, I was reminded of the much-publicised Sarda Act which was passed in the year 1929.
This Act was very much welcomed both by Hindus and Muslims all over British India. Before this, child marriages were very common.
According to press reports, the little boy and the girl were arrested with their parents. The little ones would not understand what had been happening and what was their fault.
The Sarda Act perhaps refers to reported child marriage Act of 1929, which Pakistan would have inherited after independence. I suspect that most Pakistanis are not aware of this welcome restriction since press reports citing early marriages are very common specially in rural areas.
It would be worthwhile if publicity is given to the Act prohibiting child marriages so that people know about this welcome restriction.
S. FARID AHMAD
Karachi
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