LAHORE: Speakers at a seminar have called for interval in childbirth for saving lives of about 11,000 women who die every year while giving birth to babies in Pakistan.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Punjab Population Welfare department, they said raising awareness among the less educated and economically backward section of society about the importance of family planning was necessary to control the population in Pakistan.
Punjab Population Welfare Minister Dr Jamal Nasir said that educated and well-to-do segment of Pakistani society has learnt the importance of keeping the family small.
He urged the Ulema and scholars to emphasize in their sermons the importance of healthy upbringing and proper training of children and to remove the misunderstanding that population control was un-Islamic. He said that annual budget of the Population Welfare department was only two billion rupees which was insufficient for such a huge task.
He said that the Health and Population Welfare departments will now work hand in hand with each other for extending population welfare services. In order to provide family planning services to the citizens, suitable spaces will be provided for establishing and operating population welfare centers in all district and tehsil headquarters hospitals along with the services of the staff by Primary Healthcare Department in Punjab, he added.
Speaking on this occasion, Secretary Population Welfare Salman Ejaz said that over 1.5 million married couples have registered themselves in the family planning programme in Punjab last year due to comprehensive and effective policies of the Population Welfare department.
Director General Population Welfare Saman Rai said that the department has taken a number of steps for public awareness about population growth. She said that the annual growth rate of Pakistan’s population is 2.4 percent while that of Punjab was 2.1 percent which was lowest as compared to other provinces.
Dr Aziz ul Rab, CEO, Green Star Marketing, gave a detailed briefing regarding the population of Pakistan and the programmes run since 1950.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023