Health

GENEVA: Funding for innovation swelled during the Covid-19 pandemic, with significant growth in developing countries, the UN said on Thursday, warning though that the current geopolitical turmoil was threatening the advances. In a fresh report, the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) found that research and development spending and other investments that drive innovative activities continued to boom last year …

Indonesia has approved its first locally developed Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, the head of the country’s public health agency said on Friday, hailing it as a step toward “the nation’s independence in access to medicine”. Jakarta has stressed the importance of developing national vaccines since the beginning of the pandemic but it currently relies on China’s Sinovac and the …

KARACHI: Two more dengue fever patients died in the city while a malaria patient died at a Sukkur hospital, raising the mortalities from the mosquito-borne diseases to 38 and four, respectively, the health department stated on Thursday. According to officials, the dengue patients, one male and the other female, died at the Ziauddin Hospital, North Nazimbad campus. The death of …

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha on Thursday said that 600,000 pregnant women in flood affected areas lack maternal health services and have no safe place to deliver. She said that over 5 million children have no immunisation or nutritional care and suggested that Pakistan must fast track efforts to restore reproductive health services …

ISLAMABAD: The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have called for concrete actions to address mental health concerns in the working population, saying that an estimated 12 billion workdays are lost annually due to depression and anxiety, costing the global economy nearly $1 trillion. Two new publications, aimed at addressing the issue, were published on Wednesday, …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) on Wednesday decided to conduct the National Licencing Examination (NLE) for local students in October and November through their respective degree awarding institutions under the PMC. The percentage to clear the examination which is conducted in two phases – Step 1 and Step 2 – has also been reduced from 70pc to 50pc; however, …

PESHAWAR: Dengue fever continued to surge due to the pathetic response at the community level to do away with standing water pools and eliminate breeding grounds for mosquitoes as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa detected 392 new cases on Tuesday, the highest number in a single day so far. Health experts say that nowadays the temperature ranged between 20 to 25 degree Celsius, …

ISLAMABAD: Medical universities have agreed to conduct the Medical and Dental Colleges’ Admission Test (MDCAT) on November 13 or 20 this year. The admission criteria will be based on the marks of MDCAT 50pc, FSC 40pc and SSC 10pc while the syllabus will remain the same as announced by the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC). Almost 202,500 students have registered with …

ISLAMABAD: The number of dengue cases in Islamabad is continuously on the rise as the federal capital has reported 68 infections in the past 24 hours. According to District Health Officer (DHO) Islamabad, as many as 68 dengue cases were reported in the federal capital during the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 1,991 in the …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported as many as 24,967 dengue virus cases during ongoing year, ARY News reported, quoting sources within NIH. According to a detailed report prepared by the National Institute of Health (NIH), as many as 24,967 dengue virus cases with 67 deaths were reported countrywide. Sindh remains the highly infected province with 7,951 cases and 33 deaths of …