Tue, 21-Oct-2025

Shehbaz Sharif orders building of Health Tower in Islamabad

Health Tower

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the authorities concerned to build a health tower of international standard in the federal capital to house hospitals, medical and nursing universities, modern laboratories, and diagnostics centers.

The prime minister, chairing a meeting to review the matters related to the Ministry of National Health Services, instructed to formulate a strategy to build the said tower through the public-private partnership.

Highlighting the significant responsibilities of the health sector to save human lives, the prime minister expressed his concerns about the reported new polio cases in the country and resolved the elimination of the disease by utilising all-out- resources in collaboration with partners.

He also called for carrying out the third-party audit of the laboratories working under the purview of the Ministry of National Health Services, besides appointing well-qualified health professionals in the ministry and its allied departments.

Vowing to personally monitor health-related matters, Prime Minister Shehbaz also ordered the third-party audit of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and the formulation of a strategy to bifurcate the drug processing from the Authority.

Besides, he also instructed outsourcing the human resource of all government hospitals in  Islamabad and their waste treatment plants, besides the audit of countrywide nursing schools and colleges.

During the briefing, the prime minister was told that a National Blood Transfusion and Blood Products Policy would be introduced soon, and work on a nursing and midwifery policy framework was in the final stage.

It was told that an evening shift was being introduced in the nursing colleges to increase the number of graduates.

As the prime minister was told about the installation of new health equipment worth Rs 711 million in  Islamabad’s hospitals, he instructed the third-party audit of the purchase of the said equipment.

It was informed that a modern hospital management system would be installed in Islambad’s hospitals and that waste management plants were operating in the capital city’s five public and four private sector hospitals.

The participants of the meeting were told that a strategy for insulin manufacturing in the country was being formulated.

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Separate room for treatment of transgender people ordered  

transgender

PESHAWAR : Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, while agreeing with the suggestion of Governor Haji Ghulam Ali regarding the provision of better treatment facilities to transgender, has issued instructions for the reservation of a separate room for the trans community in District Headquarter Hospitals of the province. The decision was taken during a … Read more

Medical students from Kharkiv begin their studies in hospitals around Cambridge

Medical students

Twenty medical students from Kharkiv, Ukraine, whose training was halted by Russia’s invasion on a large scale The student’s school, Kharkiv National Medical University, and the University of Cambridge formed a twinning collaboration to organise the placements. The majority of the programme participants, who are in their last two years of medical school, have been … Read more

Bangladesh blast: Over 40 killed, hundreds injured

Blast

A fire and a massive explosion killed at least 49 people and injured hundreds more. Hospitals in the area are overburdened, with long lines of people waiting for treatment. The depot held millions of dollars worth of clothing that were ready to be sent to Western stores. At a storage warehouse outside Chittagong, Bangladesh, a … Read more

In Afghanistan’s Baghlan province, an oxygen production plant built

afghanistan

An oxygen-producing facility was erected in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan region to address a critical gas shortage in hospitals, according to the state-run news outlet Bakhtar on Friday. The equipment, which cost $120,000 and can fill 60 oxygen cylinders in 24 hours, was handed over to provincial health officials on Thursday, according to the news agency. … Read more

Six Senegalese midwives charged over pregnant woman’s death

Six midwives in Senegal have been prosecuted in the death of a pregnant woman in hospital earlier this month, according to their lawyer, in an incident that has raised uproar in the West African country. Astou Sokhna died at nine months pregnant in a public hospital in early April in the northern town of Louga … Read more

Aussie state vows to catch up surgery backlog amid Covid-19 wave

aussie state

SYDNEY – Hospitals in the Australian state of Victoria will run at an unprecedented capacity level to clear the elective surgery backlog due to COVID-19 restrictions. The state government announced a “COVID Catch-up Plan” on Sunday, promising to raise Victorian hospitals’ capacity by 25 percent in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels, allowing an additional 40,000 … Read more

India reports 1,549 new COVID-19 cases

india covid

NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 43,009,390 on Monday, as 1,549 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, the health ministry’s latest data showed. Besides, as many as 31 deaths due to the pandemic since Sunday morning took the total death toll to 516,510. There are still 25,106 … Read more

China locks down millions more as Covid spreads

china

BEIJING: China on Sunday imposed stay-at-home orders on millions more people in the country’s northeast as it battles its biggest Covid-19 outbreak in two years. The country has largely kept the virus at bay since it brought to heel its initial outbreak in 2020 using targeted lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions. But the Omicron strain has … Read more

India’s COVID-19 tally surpasses 43 million

india covid

NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 tally surpassed the 43 million mark on Thursday, rising to 43,001,477, as 2,539 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data. Besides, as many as 60 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Wednesday morning, taking the total … Read more

New Zealand reports 19,566 new COVID-19 community cases

new zealand

WELLINGTON – New Zealand reported 19,566 new community cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement. The ministry also reported 10 deaths, bringing the total number of publicly reported deaths to 151, and 25 new cases were detected at the country’s border. Among the infections reported on Thursday, 4,867 cases … Read more

India logs 2,876 new COVID-19 cases

india

NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 42,998,938 on Wednesday, as 2,876 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data. Besides, as many as 98 deaths due to the pandemic since Tuesday morning took the total death toll to 516,072. There are still … Read more

China’s Jilin Province reports 1,456 new local COVID-19 cases

jilin china

CHANGCHUN – Northeast China’s Jilin Province, hit hard by the COVID-19 resurgence, registered 1,456 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the local health authority said Wednesday. On Tuesday, the province also reported 397 local asymptomatic carriers, according to the provincial health commission. Amid the fresh outbreak, most of the province’s local infections have been … Read more

New Zealand reports 19,542 new COVID-19 community cases

new zealand

WELLINGTON – New Zealand reported 19,542 new community cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement. The ministry also reported 24 deaths, bringing the total number of publicly reported deaths to 141, and 35 new cases detected at the country’s border. There were 971 COVID-19 patients in New Zealand hospitals, … Read more

India’s COVID-19 tally rises to 42,996,062

india

NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 42,996,062 on Tuesday, as 2,568 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data. Besides, 97 related deaths since Monday morning took the total death toll to 515,974. There are still 33,917 active COVID-19 cases in the … Read more

New Zealand reports 21,616 new COVID-19 community cases

new zealand

WELLINGTON – New Zealand reported 21,616 new community cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. The ministry also reported two deaths with COVID-19. Both people, one man and one woman, were aged over 70. The total number of publicly reported COVID-19-related deaths is 117 in the country, it said. … Read more

Russian forces squeeze Kyiv, surround Mariupol

russian forces

KYIV: Russian forces stepped up the pressure on Kyiv on Saturday and pummelled civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities, including hospitals in Mykolaiv and a mosque in Mariupol, the port city already devastated by two weeks of siege. Russian strikes destroyed the airport in the town of Vasylkiv on Saturday morning, about 40 kilometres (25 … Read more

India reports 3,614 new COVID-19 cases

india

NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 42,987,875 on Saturday, as 3,614 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data. Besides, as many as 89 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Friday morning, taking the total death toll to 515,803. There … Read more

US warns against Hong Kong travel over Covid rules, child separations

united states

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Power blackout in India

blackout

NEW DELHI – A major power blackout for over 36 hours in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh has hit water supply, hospitals and traffic lights, officials said on Wednesday. The blackout in India’s most well-planned city was caused by a three-day strike called by electricity department workers who protested against privatization. The outage left … Read more

Hong Kong parents decry child separations during virus surge

hong kong

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Simultaneous development of 23 hospitals first time in history: Yasmin Rashid

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Thursday said the government is simultaneously building 23 hospitals in the province for the first time in history. She chaired a meeting to review progress on the upgradation of Mianwali district headqaurters (DHQ) hospital and the establishment of a 200-bed mother and child facility there as well … Read more

Iran reports 21,996 new COVID-19 cases, 6,344,179 in total

Iran

TEHRAN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) — Iran’s Health Ministry on Sunday reported 21,996 new COVID-19 daily cases, taking the country’s total infections to 6,344,179. The pandemic also claimed 44 lives in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll since the outbreak of disease in the country in February 2020 to to 132,424, said the ministry. … Read more

Yemen’s internet returns after air strike causes four-day blackout

yemen

SANAA – Internet services returned to Yemen on Tuesday after a four-day outage caused by deadly coalition air strikes that marked a dramatic uptick in the seven-year war. Web monitor NetBlocks said internet was “being restored” in the country and AFP correspondents in the capital Sanaa and port city Hodeida reported they were back online … Read more

Aid cuts threaten hospitals in Syria rebel enclave

syria aid

DARKUSH, Syria – The crowded hospital in Darkush in Syria’s rebel-held northwest treats around 30,000 patients every month, for free but now foreign aid cuts are threatening its future. Already dwindling funds have caused dire shortages of medicine and equipment in this and other clinics in the Idlib region, the last Syrian enclave to oppose … Read more

New Zealand reports 14 new community cases of COVID-19

new zealand

WELLINGTON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) — New Zealand reported 14 new cases of COVID-19 in the community on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country’s current community outbreak to 11,337. Among the new infections, seven were recorded in the largest city of Auckland, six in the Lakes district and one in Wellington, … Read more

New Zealand reports 16 new community cases of COVID-19

new zealand

WELLINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — New Zealand reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 in the community on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country’s current community outbreak to 11,322. Among the new infections, seven were recorded in the largest city of Auckland, six in the Lakes district, one in Hawke’s Bay, … Read more

India logs 168,063 new COVID-19 cases, total rises to 35,875,790

india

NEW DELHI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 35,875,790 on Tuesday, as 168,063 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data. It is the third consecutive day when more than 150,000 new cases were registered over 24 hours in the country, which is also … Read more