Govt decides to conduct yearly blood screening of school students

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to conduct blood screening once in a year of students receiving education in public and private schools in the province.

The decision was taken on Tuesday by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in a meeting with Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Director-General (DG) Major General Musarrat Nawaz Malik at the CM House. The meeting was attended by Health Secretary Fazlullah Pechuho, Home Secretary Qazi Shahid Pervez, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput and ANF Karachi Commander Noorul Hassan.

The CM told the ANF DG that after going through the reports of use of drugs by the students in the federal capital, he was worried about the students in Sindh, especially those who live in hostels. “I want you [ANF DG] to help the Sindh government combat this menace,” he told Major General Malik. The ANF DG vowed to work with the Sindh government in this regard.

The ANF must help the provincial government eliminate the organised gangs involved in the supply of narcotics in the city, Shah said in the meeting. “When they [the drug mafia] can move unchecked, they can penetrate anywhere, particularly into the educational institutions,” the CM said. He added that a coordinated strategy was required to obliterate the drug mafia and for that the police and the excise and taxation department should work with the ANF.

The CM directed the home secretary to coordinate with the police, ANF and excise department in order to launch an operation against the drug mafia operating in Karachi. “I won’t allow [the drug mafia] to play with the lives of our innocent children. [The students] are our future and it becomes our collective responsibility to keep them safe and secure from all evils,” the CM resolved.

The participants in the meeting decided that a blood screening of students receiving education in public and private schools was necessary in order to keep an eye on their health issues.

“The government will bear the expenses of the blood screening of the students receiving education in public sector while [private] educational institutions will be instructed to [ensure] screening of blood of each and every student at least once in a year,” the CM said, directing the health secretary to draft a proposal for the purpose. He also instructed the principal secretary to issue directives to the education department to work out a detailed plan for the blood screening of school children.

The CM also accepted the ANF DG’s invitation to inaugurate the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Model Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre (MATRC), Lyari and approved the proposal to provide a building to the ANF for establishment of MATRC in Sukkur.

On the advice of the ANF DG, Shah directed the health secretary to establish a 10-bed facility at each and every district hospital for the treatment of drug addicts.

Source: The Express Tribune