Multan

At least two more patients have been brought to Nishtar Hospital Multan on suspicion of Swine Flu and their blood samples have been sent to National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad for examination, hospital sources disclosed.
The total number of the patients being treated for Swine Flu at Nishtar Hospital has risen to four with the addition of two new patients. Hospital sources revealed that both the old patients were in critical condition and being treated at ICU unit while the new patients were also shifted to isolation ward. One of the new patients was identified as Abdul Hadi, who had returned from London a couple of weeks back while the other Ahsan from Burewala.
Earlier, provincial entomologist Dr. Asif had visited the hospital along with district in-charge of epidemic control programme Dr Ataur Rehman and talked to the doctors. The team said that they did not find any signs of swine flu in the medics. On the other hand, special teams acquired blood samples of over 100 birds from kabootar mandi. Similarly, the blood samples of chicken from poultry shops were also acquired. The news of Swine Flu outbreak panicked the citizens and the chicken sale plunged seriously in Multan.
Health sources disclosed that safety kits and swine flu vaccine had also been issued to the doctors and other medical staff working in isolation ward. Sources added that the entry of irrelevant persons in isolation ward had also been restricted.
MDA plans housing scheme: The Multan Development Authority (MDA) is going to launch a big housing scheme on 1,000 acres of land under the banner of Allam Iqbal Town with 10 per cent plots allocated for the poor and low-income citizens, disclosed Altaf Hussain Sario, Additional Director of the authority.
He disclosed this while talking to local media here on Tuesday. He added that the new colony would be established on Vehari Road near Southern bypass and about 7,000 plots would be created in it. He further revealed that the land for the housing scheme had been selected and it would be made a model housing scheme with wide roads, beautiful parks and latest facilities.
He disclosed that latest technology would be used to locate illegal buildings on 1 roads of MDA. “Satellite images of the illegal buildings will be acquired with the cooperation of urban unit to locate those buildings which have been constructed in violation of bylaws,” he added. He lamented that the owners of plazas and commercial buildings did not allocate space for parking and set back as a result of which frequent traffic jams took place in the city,” he added. He pointed out that the patients and children could not reach hospitals and schools in time respectively.

He pointed out that it was not the responsibility of just controlling agency to check the violation of building by laws rather it was the duty of entire nation.
Meanwhile, the authority has launched a crackdown on illegal housing colonies and cases have been registered against the owners of 39 schemes while notices issued to 50 others for not fulfilling legal requirements. The DG disclosed that the gates and walls of the illegal colonies had been demolished. He further revealed that 150 housing schemes had been marked as illegal and the developers of 50 had been issued notices in first phase.
He said that the MDA would encourage genuine builders to launch housing schemes but the swindlers would not be allowed to fleece the poor. He said that the record of the housing schemes launched in the past was also being scrutinised. He declared that the list of illegal housing schemes had been issued on the website of the MDA and citizens could check it out before making any investment.