Population Explosion is our No. 1 problem which is not discussed
at any Forum – Mujeebur Rehman Shami
Govt must listen to Technocrats, Society representatives to solve this issue-Rashid Latif Greedy Builders, corrupt officials have converted agriculture
land in building housing societies – Shaheena Asif
CRAFT Conference on Human Reproductive Health
LAHORE: We need to create awareness, promote education and political will to improve the use of contraceptives to check the population explosion. This was stated by Prof. Arshad Chohan while speaking at the recently held Craft Conference on Human Reproductive Health held at a local hotel from September 20th to 22nd 2024. He was delivering his keynote address in the special session devoted to “Rapidly growing population is cause of concern in Pakistan: Strategies and Actions to control this Storm”. Other speakers in this session included an eminent journalist Mr., Mujeebur Rehman Shami, a religious scholar Maulana Naqashbandi, other eminent obstetricians & gynecologists Prof. Rashid Latif Khan and Prof. Shaheena Asif.
Sitting on the Dais from ( Left to Right) during the session on “ Rapidly growing population is cause for concern in Paksitan” during tahe CRAFT Conference held at Lahore are Maulana Naqashbandi, Mr. Mujeebur Rehman Shami, Prof. Arshad Chohan, Prof. Rashid Latif, Prof. Shaheena Asif, and representative of Population Welfare Dept. Govt. of Punjab.
Currently almost 40% of population Prof. Arshad Chohan stated is living below the poverty line. We have 23% younger population, we have lot of unemployment, are faced with problem of water scarcity. Olly 34% use family planning services. In comparison the figures for contraceptive for Iran and Bangladesh are much better. He further stated that according to reports three lac eighty two thousand children are born daily out of which one lac sixty eight thousand die in the country which is the 5th most populous country in the world. Our fertility rate is 3.1. Religious beliefs account for low contraceptive use. No government is interested in population control. Death of political will is now leading this population storm. Iran and Bangladesh have managed their population control much better.
In China, use of hot water was promoted and it still being used to control Diarrhoeal diseases. He requested to the policy makers to listen to professionals and support them. He requested the religious leaders to support population welfare projects. Termination of pregnancy is allowed in many Muslim countries before fetal heart develops. We need to promote family planning education courses and promote late marriages. In some countries there are state sponsored vasectomy, birth spacing is promoted. Why cannot we follow the polices being practiced in Iran and Bangladesh, he asked. Population explosion requires access to family planning services, improving the use of contraceptives. Inheritance law, Prof. Arshad Chohan stated is said to be yet another barrier to promote family planning. The only son gets the inheritance and in case there is no son, daughters get half and the rest goes to Uncles. Hence, people keep on producing children till they have a boy. Cousin marriages are also very common which have its own repercussions. Lady Health Visitors, he opined, were underutilized. We need to take effective measures to control our fertility rate, he remarked.
Mr. Mujeebur Rehamn Shami in his address stated that Population explosion was No.1 problem of Pakistan and it is not discussed at any forum. We have more children out of school and there is rapid increase in population. Currently it is estimated that about two crore children are out of school as there are not schools for them. This population Bomb will explode but our policy makers are not realizing it. These issues are never discussed. We need to create awareness, educate the public. East Pakistan had more population than West Pakistan but now Bangladesh has less population as compared to Paksitan because they have managed to control their fertility rate. He suggested that the resources distribution should be reduced with increased population and the existing formula for resource distribution should be revisited, he added.
Maulana Naqashbandi in his speech stated that breast feeding advised for two years in Islam is meant for birth spacing for three years. Because of socio cultural norms, we do not discuss these issues. He opined that at one hundred twenty days pregnancy can be terminated if there is danger to the life of mother. Marriage at young age should be discouraged. He laid emphasis on quality of life and hoped that the situation will improve. We need to educate girls and improve the use of contraceptives, he added.
Prof. Rashid Latif Khan stated that Mr. Mujeebur Rehman Shami always has a balanced view and it is heartening to listen to him all the time. He had also advised that government and public both should do something in this regard. Almost four hundred crore of rupees are spent on protocol services and some of it can be used for this population welfare programme. He further stated that an impression was created that one of the reasons for Ayub Khan’s fall was family planning programme. Hence no government which followed owned this programme. Its name was also changed. General Ziaul Haque took a retrogressive step and the situation became from bad to worse. No political government which followed owned this programme and now it has also been transferred to provinces. In Iran and Bangladesh governments listen to public and societies.
There are enormous number of children out of schools. Government must listen to technocrats and Society of Obstetricians & Gynecologists representatives. There are no opportunities for these children to learn some skills. We need to teach them some skills while the gynecologists and other healthcare professionals should also teach family planning in our hospitals and clinics. God has given us a lot. We all are privileged and we must help the poor so that children of these poor parents should also have the opportunity to become doctors, Prof. Rashid Latif remarked.
Prof. Shaheena Asif another noted gynecologists speaking on the occasion remarked that we have many secrets of the elite class but we cannot discuss them. We cannot tell these secrets. Our resources do not match with the population explosion. Availability of drinking water is an issue in many villages in the country. In his pictorial presentation, he shared with the participants the real picture in our cities and rural areas. Unfortunately ruling class do not think beyond their families. In future wars will be fought on water. India has built many dams but where are our Dams which we had planned, she asked? She asked everyone to read Indus Water Treaty. In the days to come, she warned, Pakistan will suffer from water shortage. The greedy builders and corrupt officials have converted fertile agriculture lands into building housing societies hence in future we may also suffer from food shortages. There was a time we used to export, sugar, and wheat but now we are forced to import wheat. Many villages have no schools and some of these schools in the rural area are used for animals. She showed some pictures to emphasize her point of view with animals in school buildings.
Continuing Prof. Shaheena Asif said the lite has sent their children to United States, Europe for education and the few others get their children educated in private schools, hence why they should bother about the poor. Hospital often face shortage of beds. Blood bags supplied to hospitals carry pictures of politicians. We need to streamline the blood transfusion services, ensure screening blood for safe transfusion to check the spread of Hepatitis and HIV. Females, she stated, are blamed for not giving birth to boy and they keep on producing girls or their husbands go for another marriage. We need to look after the poor otherwise they will become beggars. We always knock on the doors of IMF for loans. These out of school children will become drug addicts, drug suppliers, will suffer from rape and sexual harassment. Her presentation had many wake up calls but then she conclouded her address with a slide “Kutch Na Kaho, Kutch Na Suno, Chup Raho”.
The scientific programme of the conference was spread over many plenary sessions with Keynote lectures and presentations on important topics. The meeting as usual attracted a large number of obstetricians & gynecologists from all over the country. At every conference the organizers select a particular topic and try to have a consensus meeting. Rapidly growing population was the topic selected for this year’s meeting.
