50m saplings to be planted during monsoon: minister

The Punjab government has set a target of planting 50 million saplings during the monsoon tree plantation campaign that would be formally inaugurated in the third week of July and continue till December.

50m saplings to be planted during monsoon: minister

Provincial Minister for Forests Sabtain Khan and the chief secretary jointly chaired a meeting to review the arrangements for the campaign at the Civil Secretariat here on Wednesday.

The provincial minister said the Punjab government was taking steps to increase forests in line with the vision of the prime minister. He said that under the “Khidmat Aap Ki Dehliz Per” programme, tree planting week was being observed across the province from July 12 to July 18 and as many as 380,000 saplings would be planted during the week.

The chief secretary said that suitable arrangements should be in place to look after a sapling after its plantation. He directed the forest secretary to devise a system for monitoring the growth of plants with the help of modern technology.

He mentioned that planting more and more trees was the need of the hour to control environmental pollution and all departments should take active part in the tree plantation drive.

He said participation of civil society and welfare organisations should also be ensured in the tree plantation campaign. He also issued instructions to officers concerned to launch a community mobilisation and awareness campaign about the benefits of trees.

The forest secretary briefed the meeting that a target of planting 50 million saplings in Punjab, including 32 million in government forests and 11 million on private lands, had been set for the monsoon tree plantation campaign. He said the “Plant for Pakistan Day” would also be observed in the first week of August and on that occasion the Forest Department would distribute 384,000 saplings free of cost at the sale points.

The secretaries of different departments, including local government, irrigation, schools education and higher education, also attended the meeting while the divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and the director generals of parks and horticulture authorities participated in it through video link.

Seminar on cardiac life support: Postgraduate Medical Institute Principal Prof Dr Sardar Muhammad Al-freed Zafar has said the lives of a heart attack patients can be saved by providing timely medical aid to them.

It is important for the young doctors and nurses to learn from their senior professors as interaction between physicians and paramedics could guarantee patients better medical care and health, said the PGMI principal while addressing a seminar organised by LGH Medical Unit III on the topic “How to Interpret ECG & Hands-on Training for Cardiac Life Support.”

This session was organised by Prof Dr Tahir Siddique, charge of Medical Unite III. Prof Ghias-un-Nabi Tayyab, Prof Farah Shafi and Prof Tahir Siddique delivered lectures and demonstrated practical training to the seminar participants.

MS Dr Abdul Razzaq, Dr Kashif Aziz Ahmed, Dr Salman Shakeel, Dr Muhammad Maqsood, Dr Abdul Aziz, Dr Sabra Sharif and Dr Aziz Fatima were also present besides medical students.

Talking to the media, the PGMI principal said the medical profession required doctors and other staff to keep their professional knowledge updated. He said that study and research should be made a permanent part of professional medical life.

On this occasion, various medical experts stressed the need to take measures in line with modern requirements especially for cardiac patients.

Originally published at The news international