ABBOTTABAD: Commissioner of Hazara division Syed Zaheerul Islam inaugurated a coronavirus testing laboratory at the privately-owned Frontier Medical College here on Wednesday.

The commissioner told reporters that the lab was the sixth established in the province following the outbreak of novel coronavirus and would carry out 50 tests daily.

He said the lab would work on no profit and no loss basis for the residents of Hazara division and adjoining areas.

The commissioner said the facility would increase the province’s daily Covid-19 testing capacity to 2,000, which the government wanted to take to 5,000.

Deserving patients to get facility free of charge

He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Care Commission had allowed the lab to carry out the virus tests.

FMC chief executive Dr Asad Jamil said the laboratory’s testing capacity would be doubled if the need emerged.

He said it was the first private Covid-19 lab established in Hazara division, which would offer free services to the deserving patients recommended by the local health authorities.

Dr Asad said the laboratory would follow the procedures laid down by the health department and Health Care Commission and the national standards notified by the National Institute of Health or the federal government from time to time.

The lab will send Covid-19 test reports to the health department and relevant DHO offices and district administrations on a daily basis, while the HCC will monitor the facility for adherence to quality standards and will reassess testing approval after three months.

PETITION ACCEPTED: The Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad Circuit Bench has issued notices to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s chairman and Election of Commission of Pakistan over a petition filed by local PTI leader Ibrar Saeed against the intra-party elections.

The petitioner claimed that the polls violated the Election Act, 2017.

A bench consisting of Justice Shakil Ahmad and Justice Ahmad Ali accepted the petition for hearing after petitioner’s lawyer Kiran Ayub Tanoli defended it.

It directed the respondents to file para-wise comments on the petition within a fortnight.

The lawyer said the PTI named office-bearers without holding election and thus, violating Section 208 of the Election Act, 2017, and Section 11 of the Political Parties Order, 2002.

The petitioner said the law had criteria for the election of the governing body of a political party, while the PTI’s constitution declared that the party’s office-bearers would be elected by members of the primary organisation.

He claimed that the PTI’s provincial executive committee had notified office-bearers against the provisions of the Political Parties Order, 2002.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2020