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Bahria Uni 4th convocation: KU security
Over 700 students graduate at Bahria Uni's 4th convocation
Karachi, March 17, 2008: Bahria University Karachi (BUK) held its fourth
convocation Saturday in which 800 students graduated.
BUK conferred 366
Bachelors, 421 Masters, 4 M.Phil and 8 PhD degrees in various disciplines, which
included BBA (Honours), BSE, BCE, BS Eco, MSc Professional Psychology, MBA and
Executive MBA to its graduates of 2006-07. Sixteen gold and 11 silver medals
were awarded to students who secured top positions in different
disciplines.
The chief guest, Dr Ishratul Ebad, congratulated the
graduates and said that the destiny of the country was in their
hands.
Bahria University Rector Vice Admiral (Retd) Farooq Rashid said
that the institution has progressed tremendously in the last five years with the
recent addition of an MBA in Pharmaceutical Business Management.
Haris
Usama adds: Rashad joined Bahria in 2003 by enrolling in its BBA programme. He
chose marketing as a major and graduated in 2007. "I am overwhelmed," he said.
"I flew all the way from Islamabad along with my family." He also did an MBA in
Marketing from Bahria and is looking for a job now.
Most of the BUK
students are already employed and working, so much so that many of them were
unable to attend the convocation. "It was a good experience," said Adeel, who is
a management trainee at Packages Limited. "I met my friends after a long time so
it was more of a get-together thing."
The university made parking
arrangements inside a naval unit adjacent to BUK. nni
Karachi University beefs up security
Karachi: In light of the deteriorating
law and order situation in the city, the University of Karachi (KU) has beefed
up its security measures.
In a notice issued Saturday, the campus
security advisor has directed all visitors and students to follow the
identification procedure before entering the university premises. Visitors will
be required to either show their National Computerized Identity Card, driving
license or vehicle documents to the security personnel, while students should
carry their institutional identity card. Residents of the staff colony will be
required to carry the special passes that the campus office will issue.
Furthermore, vehicles with tinted windows have also been banned from entering
the university limits.
Guests, however, are allowed to contact the host
for clearance if they lack proper identification.
KU Prof. Inam Bari
said that the directives were not new, rather, had been renewed for
improved security. Daily Times
KU team claims breakthrough in leishmaniasis treatment
Karachi: Scientists at the H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry,
Karachi University, have developed a herbal ointment for the treatment of
cutaneous leishmaniasis, an infectious skin disease transmitted by the bite of
certain species of sandfly. The disease, which is considered a serious public
health concern in many countries, is now endemic in many parts of
Pakistan.
The finding is the result of a five-year long research to be
completed by the end of this year. The treatment, which has proved highly
successful in clinical trials, is free from any side-effects and pain as well as
cost-effective and efficient as compared to the conventional therapy. The Jinnah
Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and Chandka Medical College (CMC) are
collaborating in the research.
"The laboratory discovery is, indeed, a
breakthrough. The study is the first of its kind on leishmaniasis in the region.
More research is needed before the ointment is brought into the market," said Dr
Iqbal Chaudhry, Director H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, adding that his
team intended to work on visceral leishmaniasis, a dangerous form of the
disease, after completing the present study, which focused on cutaneous
leishmaniasis, the form most common in Pakistan.
Making a comparison with
the conventional treatment, Professor Dr Azam J. Samdani, Head of the
Dermatology Department, JPMC, said that though a number of therapeutic
procedures were used in the case of this specific disease, no single regime had
proved to be effective and satisfactory.
"The imported drugs are
administered through injections so the process is also painful apart from having
some side-effects. However, when herbal extracts were applied, the majority of
the patients responded positively to the treatment. Follow-ups were also carried
out for three months, which showed no sign of re-infection," he
said.
According to research officer Samreen, out of 70 patients
suffering
from cutaneous leishmaniasis – 58 males and 12 females, age
ranging from 7 to 65 years – 57 patients responded to treatment and 40 patients
were completely cured by the infection within 10 weeks during initial
trials.
The exclusions were pregnant, lactating females and people having
a history of drug allergies or those who had gone through some local therapy
during the last 30 days.
Balochistan and upper Sindh are vulnerable to
cutaneous leishmaniasis while Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas appear on the
visceral leishmaniasis belt of the world. Larkana, Khuzdar, Dera Ismail Khan and
the suburbs of Multan are also some hotspots. Epidemics occurred in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Larkana and Dadu in 2001 and 2002.
About 11,000 cases were registered in Dadu and Larkana alone.
Dr Farooq
Rehman Soomro of the CMC and the in-charge, Leprosy Centre, Larkana, had tried
out the ointment on about 2,000 patients during the last four years and the
success rate had remained 90 per cent. The 10 per cent failure, he explained,
was due to multiple lesions which obstructed the penetration of the
cream.
Government apathy
Expressing concern over the
government's indifference towards the disease, Dr Soomro said despite the fact
that leishmaniasis was present in all the provinces in varying degrees and was
listed among the World Health Organization's list of top five priority diseases,
the government allocated no budget for it.
"It's only when an outbreak
occurs that the government moves into action," he remarked, adding that
leishmaniasis had been present in Balochistan and other areas for centuries but
spread widely after Afghan refugees' migration into Pakistan following the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
"Before the Afghan war, there
were hardly two to three patients a year. Today, about 300 patients are
registered every month at the leprosy centre, Larkana, alone, which also serves
as a leishmaniasis cell. Though patients come throughout the year, more cases
are seen in summer," he said.
However, Dr Samdani disagreed with this
theory and said that there were other major factors that might have contributed
in the spread of the disease, for instance environmental pollution and a
deterioration in living conditions, coupled with lack of action on behalf of the
authorities concerned to contain the spread of the disease when it was limited
to a few areas.
Incidence in Karachi
About its incidence in
Karachi, he said it was difficult to give the exact data since there was no
official database and the cases of leishmaniasis also came to general
practitioners. The cases usually came from Hub, Lasbela, Malir, Korangi and the
interior of Sindh. He also warned that "if pockets in the suburbs of Karachi
continued to flourish, the disease can spread to other areas."
The
doctors stressed the need for public awareness and having treatment at early
stages since multiple lesions could lead to disfigurement that could only be
rectified through reconstructive surgery, which was a costly affair.
The
symptoms of leishmaniasis are skin sores, which erupt weeks to months after the
person affected is bitten by sand flies. Other consequences, which can become
manifest anywhere from a few months to years after infection, include fever,
damage to the spleen and liver, and anaemia.
By Faiza Ilyas (Dawn)
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