Tag: medical

  • TW: After posting complaint, Chicago man finds three severed heads on desk

    TW: After posting complaint, Chicago man finds three severed heads on desk

    Dale Wheatley, a transportation coordinator at the Anatomical Gift Association in Illinois that distributes human body parts for medical research, revealed to People Magazine that after he filed a complaint about the condition of donor bodies, he found three severed heads sitting on his desk.

    In the last five years of working at this place, Wheatley had never found body parts placed so casually at his desk. He said that they are safely transported to storage areas, and then shipped of to medical students where students dissect and study them. Afterwards, they are cremated, and the ashes are sent to family members.

    “At first I was confused,” Wheatley tells PEOPLE. “My boss walked by, and I asked him why the heads were at my desk. He said they need to get back with their bodies so we can send them to cremation.”

    Wheatley said he asked his boss about why the heads were lying on his desk. His boss said he did not know.

    Wheatley had earlier complained that donated bodies were not kept in proper conditions or stored, leading to decomposition and mold, rendering them unsuitable for studying. Wheatley’s lawyer David Fish said that rats had chewed through the bags, which made the bodies unusable.

    “The body goes to waste if it’s not properly cared for,” Fish told PEOPLE.

    The president of the company, William O’Connor, denied Wheatley’s complaint that bodies were being mishandled.

  • ‘No restriction on Pakistani doctors and students to work, train in US’: PMC clarifies

    ‘No restriction on Pakistani doctors and students to work, train in US’: PMC clarifies

    The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has denied media reports claiming doctors who attended medical schools in Pakistan might not be permitted to practice in the United States (US) after January 2024.

    “Unfortunately over the last few days a malicious and false campaign in the media and social media has been initiated falsely claiming that PMC has failed to meet the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) criteria while referring to the decision of the US medical regulators requiring that foreign doctors entering the US in 2024 onward would be those graduating from or licensed by regulatory authorities recognised by WFME,” says the PMC statement.

    “Currently all Pakistani doctors and graduates are able to work and train in the USA without any hindrance. PMC has been working in close coordination with the US regulatory authorities including ECFMG and the Federal State Medical Boards (FSMB) ensuring that there is no hindrance in Pakistani doctors and medical graduates being recognized in the USA. In addition to ECFMG and FSMB, the Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North American (APPNA) are also supporting PMC’s recognition by WFME as evidenced by their recent communications with the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Minister for Health,” it added.

    “PMC has initiated the recognition process for WFME after exhaustive preparations and fulfilling all requirements over the last 18 months. WFME will be over the next 6 to 12 months evaluating the PMC and its recognized medical colleges to complete the recognition process, on completion of which Pakistan will be able to obtain the WFME recognition in 2023, well before the 2024 deadline. The WFME process is a phase wise process of evaluation which culminates in a physical assessment expected during the first half of 2023.”

    Media reports claimed that Pakistan has until January 2024 to finish the accreditation process and obtain recognition for its medical programmes, but officials with the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) are concerned that Pakistan may miss the deadline.

    It is being reported that the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) is concerned that Pakistan may miss the deadline. Though the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) initiated the process, it was eventually replaced by the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) through a presidential ordinance.

    The PMC Act does not meet the criteria to get recognition from the WFME. However, as per the PMC, it has “formally initiated the application process for the recognition”. The entire process, including the on-site visit by the WFME, is expected to take 12 to 15 months.

    “It is not going to be easy to get accreditation by 2024 as there is a long list of conditions which include quality of education, criteria for inspections of colleges, rules, faculty and many other things,” PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad told Dawn.

  • Google launches dedicated suicide helpline for Pakistanis

    Google launches dedicated suicide helpline for Pakistanis

    The internet giant, Google has introduced a suicide hotline one box for Pakistan, which allows users to connect immediately with a suicide helpline at the top of the search results page.

    The hotline termed ‘Umang Pakistan’ will now be displayed to anyone in Pakistan seeking suicide-related queries such as “suicide-support” and “how can I commit suicide”.

    The implementation of this special service will aid worried Pakistanis in recovering from whatsoever hardship they are enduring. The hotline will assist stressed individuals and provide solutions to alleviate the anxiety that they are currently encountering.

    Suicide ratio in Pakistan

    Umang is a mental health helpline recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) that provides support to Pakistanis who are contemplating or planning suicide due to any reason.

    The relationship between Umang and Google, according to Google, intends to help address Pakistan’s growing suicide rate. Keeping in view WHO estimates, Pakistan has between 130,000 and 270,000 attempted suicide cases per year.

    Meanwhile, Google Trends shows that topics like “anxiety,” “depression,” and “suicide” all spiked in the 2020-21 era in the country, according to the internet company.

    This search update is currently available on both desktop and mobile devices, including Android and iOS, and here’s how it appears in the google search:

  • FIA bars Shehbaz from leaving the country

    FIA bars Shehbaz from leaving the country

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was stopped by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from leaving the country earlier today. According to the FIA, Sharif’s name is on the Person-Not-In-List (PNIL), which means that persons who are not on Exit Control List (ECL) or on black list can be stopped through PNIL. On Friday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) said Shehbaz has “one time” permission to fly abroad for medical treatment. Sharif was all set to take a flight to London but the FIA stopped him at immigration at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.

    Talking to The Current, PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar said that this is a blatant violation of court orders despite FIA officials being present in court. “Such pettiness on behalf of the government has only exposed their nefarious designs.” Tarar, who is also part of the legal team in Sharif’s case, said that if this delay gives the prime minister satisfaction for a few days, “let him be happy”.

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted that Director General (DG) FIA has the authority to remove a name from a black list. “Shehbaz Sharif’s lawyers have not submitted any application to DG FIA to remove his [Sharif’s] name from the blacklist.” Chaudhry added that communicating something verbally does not mean there will be any change in the record. “The government will move the court against this decision.”

    Talking to the media, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the FIA has added Sharif’s name in another list. She said that despite written order by the LHC, stopping Shehbaz Sharif from travelling is tantamount to contempt of court. Marriyum Aurangzeb added that now we are being told by the FIA that the system has not been updated even though there were two FIA officials present in court when the LHC granted Sharif permission to travel abroad.

  • Another Etihad plane from UAE carrying medical aid lands in Israel

    Another Etihad plane from UAE carrying medical aid lands in Israel

    United Arab Emirates (UAE) flag carrier Etihad Airways sent its second flight to Israel in less than a month on Tuesday, carrying medical aid to help Palestinians tackle the coronavirus pandemic, witnesses and officials said.

    Jordan and Egypt aside, Arab countries have no official diplomatic ties with Israel, but Gulf Arab nations have had ever more publicly warm ties with Israel of late, partly over shared rivalry with Iran.

    In mid-May, the UAE flew its first publicly announced flight to Israel, also an Etihad flight carrying coronavirus aid for the Palestinians.

    But Tuesday’s aircraft bore for the first time the logo of the Arab carrier, a source with knowledge of the flight told AFP.

    It is “the first time that a plane carrying Etihad’s marking is landing in Israel”, the source said.

    Israel’s foreign affairs ministry confirmed that Tuesday’s flight was the second one to Israel from the UAE.

    “It is the second direct flight from the UAE and it has medical aid for the Palestinians,” the ministry said.

    The aid “will be given to the UN to distribute,” it said.

    Palestinian premier Mohammed Shtayyeh said the Palestinians had not been informed about the flight.

    “The Emirati plane took us by surprise, we didn’t know about it,” he told foreign journalists at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

    He voiced appreciation for the aid but said the delivery should have been coordinated.

    “When China decides to help us, they coordinate with us, when any country in the world is extending its assistance, they tell us,” he told foreign journalists in Ramallah.

    In another sign of warming ties between Israel and Gulf Arab nations, the Jewish state Tuesday congratulated the UAE on its bid to launch the first Arab space probe.

    That and the latest flight came as Israel prepares to potentially move forward in July with annexing its West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley.

    A peace plan announced by US President Donald Trump in January gave the green light for such annexations as well as creating a reduced Palestinian state, crucially lacking a capital in east Jerusalem.

    The Palestinians have rejected the proposals and Shtayyeh said Tuesday the Palestinians had submitted a counter-proposal to the Quartet mediating in the conflict, namely the United Nations, United States, Russia and the European Union.

    Analysts say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Arab states normalising with Israel will push the Palestinians to reach a peace deal, not the other way around.