LAHORE: Speakers at a conference underscored creating awareness about family planning besides providing maximum opportunities for education to women.

They were addressing the “Provincial Maternal Mortality Conference”, organised by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society (MKRMS), in collaboration with the National Programme for FP&PHC (Punjab), the Punjab Health Department and the United Nations Population Fund.

Chairman Chief Minister’s Task Force for Health, MPA, Dr Saeed Elahi, Dr Tanvir Ahmed, Dr Muhammad Iqbal, Dr Sabiha Khursheed Ahmed, Dr Jamil Ahmed Ch, Dr Tayyaba Majeed, Dr Ghulam Siddique, Dr Sadia, Dr Arfa Alvi, Chairman MKRMS Wasif Nagi and others also spoke on the occasion.

Dr Saeed Elahi said the Punjab government was paying special attention to health and education sectors. He said problems faced by the country, including terrorism, could be resolved with the help of promotion of education.

He further said maximum facilities, including free medicines, were being provided to patients in government hospitals across the province. He said Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif had vowed to provide similar healthcare facilities to the rich and poor, adding it was because of his vision that health budget was increased manifold this year.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Tanvir Ahmed said the percentage of those adopting principles of family planning in Pakistan did not match the country’s resources and increasing population. He also claimed that one woman per minute died in the world due to complexities of pregnancy, adding thousands of women who survived during and after pregnancy came down with various diseases. “Each year, around 20,000 women die due to complexities of pregnancy,” he added.

Dr Sabiha Khursheed said there was a dire need to focus on mother-child health, adding a good and educated mother could always play an important role in any society. “There is a need to provide maximum education opportunities to female population,” she added.

Addressing the conference, Dr Jamil Ahmed said in order to stop the ever-increasing mortality rate, there was a need to take different initiatives on a war-footing as every minute a woman died during pregnancy. He further said the people faced great loss when they consulted quacks for such complexities, adding, therefore, the importance of education for better mother-child health could not be ignored.

Dr Tayyaba Majeed said there was a dire need for creating awareness about health related issues in rural areas, adding early age marriages and lack of educational facilities were adding to the problems. “The healthcare centres are working in rural areas but their number should be increased,” she demanded.

National Coordinator Dr Iqbal Ahmed said they were working to control infant and mother mortality rate besides family planning, adding the conference was part of that particular activity. He said an effort was made to highlight the problems through the media.