MIRPURKHAS, May 23: A seminar on “Maternity Diseases” organized here on Friday by the Pakistan Medical Association was informed that 30,000 pregnant women died in the country every year due to lack of medical facilities.

Speaking on the occasion, the PMA general secretary, Dr Sher Shah Syed, said that 375,000 pregnant women were paralyzed every year in Pakistan due to same reason.

He deplored that although the country possessed nuclear capability, it lacked basic health facilities.

He said that 600 out of 100,000 pregnant women died in Pakistan whereas the ratio was three out of 100,000 in the US and four of the 100,000 in the UK.

Gynaecologist Dr Nighat said that death ratio of pregnant women was higher in desert and remote areas.

She stressed the need for adopting precautionary measures during pregnancy, immediate transportation of expecting mothers to hospitals and swift service by lady doctors.

Dr Iqbal Memon, Dr Ghazi Khan Mari and others also spoke on the occasion.

HESCO: The Mirpurkhas Chamber of Commerce and Industry has criticized frequent power breakdowns in the district.

Senior vice-president of the chamber Abdul Majeed Shaikh, in a statement issued here on Friday, alleged that Hesco, Mirpurkhas division, resorted to loadshedding to cover line losses.

He elaborated that local Hesco officials had provided direct connections to ice and other factories and wealthy people on payment of monthly bribes which had increased line losses to cover which power supply was suspended for hours every day.

UNION: The Wapda Paigham Union has condemned the incident in which over 30 personnel of a law enforcement agency threatened an SDO of Hesco with dire consequences at his office.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, office-bearers of the Sindh chapter of the union, chairman Nawaz Ali Jakhrani, and others demanded that the president, prime minister and the Wapda chairman should order a high-level inquiry into the matter.