KARACHI, July 18: Speakers at a seminar, stressed the need for increasing public awareness about good health practices and causes of different diseases.
They observed that social injustices and weak implementation of laws on public health and safe environment, were among the factors contributing to spread of diseases among people.
The seminar on health and diseases was organized by the Adam Welfare Association in a relatively underdeveloped area of New Karachi on Saturday.
The purpose of holding the session, attended by prominent doctors, was that people of the area, particularly the youth and the women folk, could be provided information about diseases, their symptoms, reasons and preventive measures, Farah Naz, the general secretary of the association said.
Dr Muhammad Ilyas, the former principal of the Dow Medical College, who presided over the seminar, noted that such programmes should be held frequently, as they would not only increase the level of awareness in the society, but would also help build a pressure on the quarters responsible for deteriorating health and environmental conditions.
He was of the view that difficult times were ahead for the people who were already being deprived of clean drinking water, safe food, trees and fertile land, by those people who had lust for money and had no concern for the humanity.
Noted cardiologist, Prof Dr Hamid Shafqat, said that one could learn from observations or mistakes made by others, but it was regrettable that people had turned so materialistic that neither they bothered to acquire knowledge, nor they tried to live a simple life, adding that our culture and religion had provided all guidelines for a healthy life, but probably we were not ready to follow them.
Dr Nighat Shah of the Aga Khan Health Service said that different social pressures and attitudes of their family members and husbands, contributed a lot towards diseases in women.
She stressed the need for giving due social status to women. She said today pregnancy was considered as a big killer, as there took place one maternal mortality after every 20 minutes in the country.
An ENT specialist, Dr M Rafiq Goda, discussed diseases in children and pointed out that the counterfeit beetle-nuts, after certain treatment or combination of other chemicals, unsafe for human consumption, were packed and marketed unrestricted.
To day, 20 per cent of the youth, including the females, of age ranging between 10 and 20 years, were suffering from oral cancers, besides head and neck diseases.
He said that scented and sweetened beetle-nuts, along with carcinogenic chemicals and narcotics, were being sold and promoted, despite knowing that those would be the ultimate killer of our youths in the next 10-15 years.
While urging the government for proper legislation on the issue, he also asked the parents to keep a strict watch over their children to save them from addiction to diseases-causing stuff.
Dr Muhammad Saleem of the Memon Diabetic Centre, highlighted the symptoms of diabetes and suggested measures to control the disease effectively. He pointed out that once a person was detected as diabetic, he should keep in mind that only his attitudes, treatment method, regular exercises and low-calorie food intake could make his or her life easier and less problematic.
Dr Abdul Qayyum and Dr Shamim Fatima discussed various forms of cancer and informed the audience that an early detection of the disease and prompt treatment was the best way to cure it.
They suggested that women over 50 years should have a mammography at least once in a year, while teenaged girls should maintain weight as per medical standards. Television artiste Ayaz Khan and president of the association, Akhtar Sohail Bhadki, also spoke at the seminar and maintained that due to a lack of knowledge about diseases, people had to pay heavily.