KARACHI: An important meeting was held under the chairmanship of Maj Gen Masood-ur-Rehman Kayani (retd), President of Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH). Sana Ullah Ghumman, General Secretary and Director Operations of PANAH, hosted the event.
PANAH president while presiding over the meeting said that health is a fundamental right of all of us.
In the meeting, General Dr Ashraf Khan (retd), General Dr Ashur Khan (retd), General Dr Azhar Rashid (retd), Dr Qayyum Awan, Dr Shehzad Ali Khan, Vice Chancellor, Health Services Academy, Chairperson National Commission on the Rights of the Child Afshan Tehseen Bajwa, Chairperson Nation Development Organization and General Secretary Women Wing Panah Tehseen Fawad, former Commissioner of Income Tax Abdul Hafeez, Prof Dr Col Shakeel Mirza (retd), Squadron Leader Ghulam Abbas, Dr K F Danish, Dr Rashid Kant, Dr Zahida, Col Ijaz Rafi (retd), and a large number of other health professionals were present.
“Observance of prayers, natural food, walking, and exercise should be made your routine. The same training must be given to our children and youth, because the young generation is our future. Health professionals must do their part to protect them from disease. Individuals and institutions belonging to all schools of thought are urged to inform the public about other deadly diseases including heart disease under the basic objective of PANAH. Advocacy is a difficult task but not impossible. Everything is possible through manpower,” PANAH president said.
Earlier, General Secretary PANAH Sana Ullah Ghumman thanked the distinguished guests. He said that Pakistan was plagued by deadly diseases and one of the major reasons for this was unhealthy consumption of unhealthy food and sugary drinks. He said that PANAH have been fighting for the last 38 years to raise awareness of the disease, there is still time, we have to think seriously, we have to take practical steps to prevent the spread of deadly diseases, otherwise the number of deadly diseases will increase further. Researchers around the world have made it clear that if the consumption of something is to be reduced, then the Tax should be increased, so the tax of sweet drinks should be increased, so as to get rid of the dangerous diseases contained in NCDs, reduce the cost of diseases and get more revenue.
On this occasion, the health professionals expressed their views on the growing number of deadly diseases, their causes and prevention of diseases, and said that the efforts of PANAH are commendable, we are all together in their noble cause. But the primary responsibility for disease prevention lies with the government.
They said that the state’s role is like the mother. The highest responsibility of the government is to play its role in the prevention of diseases. Researchs from around the world tells us that if we want to reduce the consumption of anything, we need to increase the tax. Therefore, we appeal to the government to immediately increase the tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSB), which are a major cause of heart, obesity, diabetes, cancer and other deadly diseases.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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