Punjab Governor Lieutenant General Khalid Maqbool (Retd) has said the government, with the help of Fatmid Foundation, will carry out blood screening of all the government employees so as to check thalassemia disease. He was speaking at the concluding ceremony of a seminar arranged by the Fatmid Foundation in collaboration with the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here on Monday.

Khalid also announced that organisers of 'mass marriage ceremonies' would be asked to conduct blood screening of grooms to check the spread of that disease. He also supported the proposal of keynote speaker of the seminar Dr Javaid Akram that awareness regarding that fatal disease should be created.

Praising the services of Fatmid Foundation for the people, suffering from blood diseases, he promised to resolve their certain issues including increase in annual grant. He stated that every citizen must pay attention towards performing social obligations, apart from making efforts to improve the individual lifestyle. 'We should not left the task of creating awareness for bringing improvement in society to teachers or religious scholars only', he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI chief Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman said the LCCI would provide all out assistance and help to the Fatmid Foundation in carrying out that noble task.

Professor Dr Javed Akram and Brother Lawrence of the Fatmid Foundation also spoke on the occasion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005