Polio has damaged the image of our country at the international level:President Mamnoon Hussain

Lahore: President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain has said that the more healthy, strong and energetic children we raise, the healthier, stronger and energetic society we will have.Therefore, organization of the international conference is a glimmer of hope for which Pakistan Pediatric Association deserves appreciation.

He was addressing 22^nd Biennial International Pediatric Conference, Lahore . Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal, Advisor for Health Khawja Salman Rafiq, Government of Punjab,Federal and Provincial Ministers, and members of the Parliament, Pediatricians from Pakistan and foreign countries were also present on the occasion.

President Mamnoon Hussain said that I expect that our participants will benefit from the worldwide experiences enabling themselves in setting a national strategy for development of a young generation in a better way. The contributions made by the PPA and others over the past decades for this cause are praiseworthy but I honestly feel that there are still many areas in this field which need our attention.

He said that this conference would bring-forth many key points regarding mental and physical health of the children and their rights. I believe that during the next two days you will reflect further on these points. This exercise would definitely lead to a viable methodology regarding healthcare of the children. For illustration, you should ponder over the condition of those children who badly suffered mentally and physically from extremism, violence and the ensuing bloodshed over the past decade. I would also like to draw your attention to those children who live in the remote areas and are deprived of the attention of the experts. Moreover, you should focus on those children who are part of the society, but unfortunately suffer from certain conditions that make one sad. It does not mean that your conduct with the deprived children of this society is not sympathetic or you are not willing to help them but it is a fact that we don’t have enough resources to provide facilities to these children in the same manner as our children get facilitated.  The government is primarily responsible for such a work but in the civilized societies social institutions also perform many of such duties.

It is a characteristic of Pakistani society that it activates voluntarily in the time of natural disaster or emergency. It is good but it would be even better if we give our compassion a shape of national movement for permanent solution of such problems.

The president said that the spread of diseases related to the children and high mortality rate is due to the lack of information by the mothers and families in our society. We can safeguard our children from these diseases through precautionary measures and we can do so by running awareness campaigns. Our governments and NGOs are not oblivious to this task but responsible social institutions should step forward for raising public health information especially for the people of the remote areas.

President Mamnoon Hussain said that Polio has not only made perilous the future of our children but also damaged the image of our country at the international level. It is need of the time that we should work with missionary zeal in the polio affected areas. In this connection, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the security of medical staff, however, the repute of those deputed on these duties should be such that they should not need any security cover.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I would like to impress upon our foreign guests that they must inform their respective governments and institutions that Pakistan is not responsible for the spread of polio rather the conditions and factors are responsible which caused bloodshed in the region and created difficulties in eradicating polio. Therefore, the world should adopt a sympathetic attitude instead of imposing certain regulations on Pakistan. Gentlemen, I think, in this regard, you can play an important role.

He said that nowadays, the situation in the desert area of Thar troubles every responsive human being. In these circumstances, many medical and welfare institutions are contributing according to their capacity. Their activities are laudable, but three aspects have been overlooked in this issue.

The first and foremost is the indifferent conduct of medical staff in the matter. The hesitation of the doctors and the medical staff not to work in the rural areas has created an imbalance which has brought to the fore the tragedy of Thar. Now it is time to put behind our petty desires for this human cause. In this case, the relevant departments should perform their responsibilities and public servants should amend their attitude. In addition, the society should also play an active role in this matter.

In this connection, members of the medical staff who are neglecting their duties should be forced by the society to perform honestly and not to hesitate to work in the remote areas. This point should always be kept in mind that it is not only the matter of working honestly but it is also a source of seeking blessings of God.

The second issue of people of Thar is lack of knowledge of the principles of hygiene. In this case, the government should fulfill its responsibilities and also other organizations should work on permanent basis to improve the current tragic situation of Thar.

The third aspect in relation to Thar that has been ignored is abject poverty, substandard food or lack of food. Our humanitarian institutions begin relief work immediately when unpleasant news start coming from Thar. It is not wrong! As a result of these efforts, there is certainly an immediate relief available but it does not solve the problems for good. It is true that government should play a key role in solving these problems but it is also the responsibility of compassionate groups, public representatives and NGOs to start small-scale projects for raising income and standard of people of Thar. In this regard, we can put forward an example of the welfare institute in Lahore which enables people to run their own business by giving small loans. If we start such projects in Thar and other backward areas, we can change economic and social conditions of the people. If we manage to do this, we will have healthy mothers and thereby healthy children. After that, if we hold such conferences, we will not consider what we should do for our children and people of backward areas but we will look forward to help our neighboring countries and the third world.