Tag: Dr Faisal Sultan

  • ‘Phir call doonga, dobara sarkon pe nikloonga’: Imran Khan breaks silence after his attempted assassination

    ‘Phir call doonga, dobara sarkon pe nikloonga’: Imran Khan breaks silence after his attempted assassination

    Former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan addressed the nation for the first time since his attempted assassination in Wazirabad. Khan is currently hospitalised in Shaukat Khanum Hospital, Lahore from where he spoke to the nation.

    In the beginning, Dr Faisal Sultan, the former assistant to Khan on health, gave some details on Khan’s injuries. He showed X-rays of Imran’s right leg, he said that the tibia was damaged and was in fact fractured.

    ‘They had planned to kill me either in Wazirabad or in Gujrat’: Imran Khan

    After Dr Faisal’s briefing, Khan claimed that he was aware of the danger and of the plot to kill him. He said that he already had information about the attack and he knew that they had planned to kill him either in Wazirabad or Gujrat.

    ‘Our MPAs were threatened and told that we have your dirty videos’: Imran Khan

    While talking about a handler in Islamabad, Khan said that his party’s Member of Provisional Assemblies (MPAs) were threatened.

    According to Khan, the handler said that “they need to stop supporting Imran Khan and the party, as they have dirty videos of them.”

    ‘Aik handler ajata hai Islamabad mein Major General Faisal, he says he will handle it all’: Imran Khan

    During his address, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan took a jibe at Major General Faisal.

    He said that ever since General Faisal was posted in Islamabad, attack on PTI leaders started. “Media officials covering or speaking for PTI were stopped from doing so,” Khan said.

    ‘I have a video with four names who made decisions behind closed doors against me’: Imran Khan

    Moreover, Khan claimed that four people plotted to kill him. He stated that the “handlers” were taking the decisions at the back but the people were turning out to his rallies in record numbers.

    “I have friendships within the institutions, I know people. I know what they did in these six months. I recorded a video with four names of people planning behind the doors against me,” said the former prime minister in his first address after being shot.

    ‘There were two shooters’: Imran Khan

    PTI chief Imran Khan described the attack on his life in Wazirabad. He said he was on the container when a “burst of bullets” was directed at him, causing him to get shot in the leg and fall down.

    “There was a burst of gunfire. I fell after being hit in the leg. Then there was another round of gunfire. If the two shooters had synchronised, I wouldn’t have survived,” revealed Imran Khan.

    ‘Had planned to murder me like Salman Taseer’: Imran Khan

    The former premier alleged that the “government and its handlers” had planned to get him murdered in the same way former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was killed.

    “Firstly, they accused me of blasphemy, they made tapes and released them and PMLN projected it, I knew who was doing it.”

    “It is very easy to find out because this is a digital world. So first it was projected that I disrespected religion and then their plan was what they did in Wazirabad, that a religious extremist killed Imran Khan,” the PTI chief claimed.

    ‘Mai aaj General Bajwa se sawaal poochta hoon’: Imran Khan

    PTI Chairman Imran Khan urged Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa to hold the “black sheep” in his institution accountable.

    Questioning Gen Bajwa, Khan asked whether the honour of the army would go up if this violence continues. He said there are black sheep dishonouring the army, which will not benefit the people of Pakistan.

    “Mr Y in Multan is the one who is calling my MPs and telling them to leave Imran Khan. Bajwa sahab, I am asking you to wake up. These people are after us all. I want to ask: Who is a traitor in Pakistan?,” said the PTI chief.

    ‘Mein Zardari aur Nawaz ko challenge karta hoon, dono ko haraaoonga’: Imran Khan

    Imran Khan challenged former President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif “to try and contest the next general election against him”.

    “I will make sure that they will lose their constituencies”, he said.

    ‘My house helpers were paid to conspire against me, our donors were scared, my phone lines were tapped’: Imran Khan

    Imran Khan said that several means were used against him like he was some enemy.

    “I asked FIA, police, election commissioner, and they all said someone else is calling the shots. My house help was tipped off, my phone calls being a prime minister were tapped and our donors were scared, ” he said.

    ‘Pakistanis should keep protesting till these three people resign’: Imran Khan

    The former premier said that three others, separate from the ones who he had named in a tape stashed abroad, had plotted to kill him.

    “How did I find out? Insiders told me. The day before Wazirabad, they planned to kill me as they saw the number of people increasing using the script of religious extremism.”

    Khan named “Rana Sanaullah, PM Shehbaz Sharif and Major General Faisal” behind his attempted assassination however Khan provided no evidence in this regard. He also demanded their resignations.

    “I have decided when I get well, I will be on the road and will give a call for Islamabad. These three people will have to resign. And I want all Pakistanis to protest till these three [Sanaullah, Shehbaz and General Faisal] hand in their resignations because otherwise, no investigation of my attack will take place as they call the shots, ” Khan concluded his address.

    On November 3, Imran Khan survived an assassination attempt on Day seven of PTI’s ‘Haqeeqi Long March’ as his container moved through Punjab’s Wazirabad.

    Following the incident, the suspect/shooter, caught by police on the scene, said that he wanted to kill Khan because “he was misleading the public”.

    Condemnations started pouring in for Khan from his opponents as well as from the international community.

  • Pakistan reports no deaths due to Covid for the first time in two years

    Pakistan reports no deaths due to Covid for the first time in two years

    For the first time since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, Pakistan has reported zero Covid deaths today (Wednesday).

    The country witnessed a slight rise in cases, with a 1.28 per cent positivity rate and 443 reported new cases, as per the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

    However, the country has been maintaining a positivity rate below 2 per cent since mid-March.

    Earlier, NCOC chief Asad Umar had announced the decision to lift all the Covid-19 related restrictions but made it clear that the vaccination restriction would not be lifted.

    On March 12, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination, Dr Faisal Sultan announced the government’s decision to shut down NCOC.

    In recent months, the rate of Covid cases in Pakistan has remained low after almost three years of fighting the global pandemic.

  • Govt to close the National Command and Operation centre: Dr Faisal Sultan

    Govt to close the National Command and Operation centre: Dr Faisal Sultan

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination, Dr Faisal Sultan has announced that the government has decided to shut down the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC).

    According to Dr Sultan, PM Khan himself is expected to formally announce the shutting down of NCOC by the end of next month. He said that the responsibilities of the NCOC will be carried out by the National Institute of Health.

    March 27 will mark the 2nd anniversary of the establishment of the NCOC.

    NCOC was established after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan. The centre is the main entity in charge of Pakistan’s national Covid-19 effort’s policies and implementation.

    In recent months, the rate of Covid cases in Pakistan has gotten low after almost three years of fighting the global pandemic.

  • Bill Gates reaches Pakistan on first-ever visit

    Bill Gates reaches Pakistan on first-ever visit

    Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), has arrived in Pakistan for a one-day visit. Gates will meet with Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi. He will also visit the National Command and Operation Centre headquarters. Gates will pay a visit to the COVID-19 treatment facility in Chak Shahzad.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, in a tweet, said, “It’s a pleasure to welcome Mr Bill Gates on his first-ever visit to Pakistan. Planned engagements include a review of progress on polio eradication; visits to NCOC and Ehsaas program as well as meeting the President, the PM and health leadership of the provinces.”

    Last year in October, Gates, in a telephonic conversation with Imran Khan, praised Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate polio and at the same time, pledged his continued support against the disease so that no child in Pakistan is affected by the disease in the future.

  • ‘Masks, avoid crowds, vaccinate’: Dr Faisal Sultan urges people to take Omicron seriously

    ‘Masks, avoid crowds, vaccinate’: Dr Faisal Sultan urges people to take Omicron seriously

    Urging people not to take the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 lightly, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on health Dr. Faisal Sultan on Tuesday said there will be some increase in hospitalisation of patients in the next one to two weeks and urged people to wear masks, avoid crowds and get vaccinated at the earliest. It takes 1-2 weeks for hospitalisations to go up, says the health minister as Omicron cases rise.

    So far Pakistan has recorded 372 cases of the Omicron variant, Dr Faisal Sultan, told Reuters.

    “It’s still a bit early to draw conclusions since it takes 1-2 weeks for hospitalisations to go up. Also, let us see how the virus behaves regarding virulence”, Dr Sultan said when asked as to why hospitalisations were not going up in Karachi despite an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

    “At the moment, we are receiving one or two patients with Covid-19 on daily basis, but so far, we have not found anybody infected with Omicron Variant of the Covid-19”, Dr Abdul Wahid Rajput, Medical Superintendent of the Infectious Diseases Hospital, affiliated with Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) told The News.

     “There will be some increase in hospitalisation. How much, depends on the degree of spread and infection. International evidence suggests it spreads fast; how much serious sickness it causes will be evident in a week or two (for us)”, Dr Sultan added.

    “What I would say is this: we should not take it lightly”, he warned.

    When asked if the government was worried about the low vaccination rate in major cities, including Karachi and Lahore, he said: “We want it (vaccination) higher for sure. I am happy that the vaccination rates picked up with time but we still have some distance to still go. So I would not say I am worried but that we need to enhance the numbers further.”

    “Masks. Masks. Masks. Avoid crowds. Vaccinate. Ventilate,” was his advice to people in Karachi.

  • Unvaccinated people to face new restrictions in next 24 hours: NCOC

    Unvaccinated people to face new restrictions in next 24 hours: NCOC

    Strict restrictions will be enforced for non-vaccinated individuals from October 1, 2021. National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) announced vaccination certificates will be made “mandatory for domestic travellers from October 1”.

    Confirming the news, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson said: “From October 1, only vaccinated passengers will be able to travel on all domestic and international flights of PIA,” reports Geo News.

    “Vaccination certificates will be checked at the airport upon receipt of the boarding card,” he said.

    People won’t be allowed to use railway and airline services without showing their vaccination cards.

    People who do not get vaccinated will not be able to enter wedding halls, shopping malls, hotels and guest houses from tomorrow [October 1].

    On the other hand, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that pregnant women should also get vaccinated.

    He reiterated that children’s vaccination is also necessary to continue educational activities.

  • Pakistan responds to UK’s concerns amid Red List travel ban

    Pakistan responds to UK’s concerns amid Red List travel ban

    The Pakistan government has responded to the United Kingdom (UK) government’s reasons for keeping the former on its travel Red List in a detailed letter written by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan.

     Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari shared the letter on Twitter and said, “The table exposes claims of UK govt, clearly it has been a political decision.”

    Mazari further tweeted, “UK’s Conservative govt with a strong Indophiles’ presence playing discriminatory politics against Pakistan on Covid.”

    Dr Sultan in his letter writes that Pakistan has “no interest in allowing” its nationals who pose a health risk to other societies to travel abroad. He said this is a shared global objective.

    Dr Sultan presented a table comparing key indicators from Pakistan and some other countries in the region, which currently sit on the Amber List, to illustrate what he referred to as “obvious disparities”. He said that when looking at countries’ track record of managing the epidemic, “numbers alone, without context, can be deceptive”.

    The SAPM explained how the Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in Pakistan were being conducted and highlighted that testing is done through “agreed-upon national algorithms”. He explained how it makes for “accurate and timely data inputs”.

    “We feel that the number of tests being done is a large enough sample size to be a sensitive and accurate barometer of the epidemic and the number, especially when seen with the percentage positivity rate, has accurately reflected the rise and fall of all the waves seen so far,” Dr Sultan wrote.

    SAPM agreed that Pakistan does have limitations in whole-genome sequencing throughput, compared to the UK, which is the current leader in this arena. So far 854 samples have been sequenced during July and August 2021 and the details are shared with the World Health Organisation (WHO) regularly.

  • Pakistan hits one million Covid-19 vaccination doses per day: Asad Umar

    Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar announced on Tuesday that Pakistan had hit the target of administering one million Covid-19 vaccination doses in a day.

    The minister took to Twitter and said, “Happy to report that the target we had set for 1 million vaccinations in a day was crossed yesterday with 10 lakh 72 thousand vaccinations.”

    “All federating entities contributed with Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Islamabad all doing record numbers. Amazing performance by all involved,” tweeted Umar.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan also confirmed the milestone and congratulated “all who have made this happen”.

    According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 31,929,581 doses of Covid vaccines had been administered across Pakistan as of Monday, with 1,072,342 doses administered on August 2.

  • Asad Umar says unvaccinated people are seven times more likely to get Covid

    Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday said unvaccinated people were seven times more likely to contract the coronavirus than those inoculated.

    After the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting, the minister said vaccination was the only way solution to the virus.

    Umar later took to Twitter and said, “The data analytics run by the NCOC team shows that comparative data of Pakistani’s who have been vaccinated versus those who are not vaccinated shows a marked difference in risk. The unvaccinated Pakistani’s are at 7 times higher risk of getting covid. Please get vaccinated.”

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said every day around 2,500 new cases were being reported, warning that the Delta variant was spreading fast.

  • VIDEO: Model, baffled federal minister in hot water over out-of-turn vaccine allegations

    VIDEO: Model, baffled federal minister in hot water over out-of-turn vaccine allegations

    The Natio­nal Com­mand and Operation Centre (NCOC) has decided to conduct a probe to reveal facts regarding the video clip wherein family members of Federal Minister for Hou­sing Tariq Bashir Cheema were seen allegedly getting vaccinated out of turn.

    Model Iffat Omar could also be seen in the video.

    Cheema belongs to the Pakis­tan Mus­lim League-Quaid (PML-Q) that is an ally of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    “We have learnt that a number of seg­ments of society are involved in such practice. People are vaccinated and they are included in the list of hea­lthcare workers. Du­­r­ing a meeting of the NCOC it was decided to first inqu­ire that whether the family members of the minister were vaccinated in Islam­a­bad or Punjab,” federal Mi­n­i­s­ter for Planning and Deve­l­o­p­ment Asad Umar said while talking to a news channel.

    On Tuesday, Cheema came under fire after video clips surfaced on social media showing him and some people of less than 60 years of age being vaccinated.

    He maintained that a team of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) had visited them to administer vaccine during a clinical trial, however, he seemed rather baffled while speaking to a private media outlet on Tuesday night.

    https://twitter.com/zarahatkay_dawn/status/1376980858364657667?s=21

    According to Umar, unfortunately it is the psyche of the people that they try to grab things by violating the law. “However on the other hand we have examples that President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi waited for his turn and got the jab when it was due,” he said.

    Dawn quoted Umar as saying during the NCOC meeting that it was decided that the Punjab government, in case the people were vaccinated in Punjab, would take action and if they were vaccinated in Islamabad, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and Secretary Health Aamer Ashraf Khuwaja would take action.

    Meanwhile, an official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) said that unfortunately a large number of people were being vaccinated without being in the queue.

    They maintained that Cheema had dragged UHS in to diffuse the situation.