Victory Behind Pakistan Cricket Team Reflects Unity, Faith, Discipline': Dr Fehmida

Zeeshan Mehtab Published October 30, 2021 | 05:43 PM

The Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr Fehmida Mirza while congratulating Pakistan on their third consecutive win in the ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup said the victory behind the team's success shows 'unity, faith and discipline' among them, which was the motto of founder of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2021 ) :The Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr Fehmida Mirza while congratulating Pakistan on their third consecutive win in the ongoing T20 cricket World Cup said the victory behind the team's success shows 'unity, faith and discipline' among them, which was the motto of founder of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

"I congratulate the team on the win against Afghanistan and the team looks united, disciplined and they have faith in them," she said while addressing at a Breast Cancer Awareness Programme organized by the Atomic Energy Cancer Hospital (AECH), NORI here on Saturday.

She was of the view that behind Pakistan team's success reflects the hard work and the motto (unity, faith and discipline) of Quaid-i-Azam.

"We had to pray for our team to win when we used to watch matches before but now the team was consistent in the wins which shows their hard work," she said.

Speaking about the Breast Cancer Awareness, Dr Fehmida said this month of October was very important for the Breast Cancer Awareness. "I'm too a survivor of cancer and we need to aware masses on it. As a survivor it is our responsibility to aware as much people as we can," she said.

She said she was leading the biggest forum (Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan from March 2008 to June 2013) when she was diagnosed with cancer.

"It's like a death sentence when you come to know but I was very active as we have to bring in the courage to fight the disease. I had the support of my family which gave me the strength and confidence," she said.

She shared how her fight against cancer made her realize that she should take up the issue at the Parliament being the Speaker of the house and that was when the awareness-related campaign started. She told how three of her male family members got affected with breast cancer.

Talking about the need for Centralized Cancer Registry, the minister expressed concern on the alarming figures about Pakistan where only 10% cancer patients are diagnosed at stage-1 whereas in developed countries the ratio of diagnosis at the early stage was 50%.

She again stressed that lack of awareness, fear of unknown and stigmas attached with breast cancer in our society were major contributors to the late diagnosis.

The minister further said that all provinces especially Sindh government should ensure that Prime Minister's initiative of Health Cards (Sehat Card) be provided to all citizens in the province like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

"This was of importance because after devolution of health ministry, the responsibility of provinces has increased manifold and since lack of resources on part of the patients was major reason for late diagnosis, provinces should work hard to reduce the gap between increasing population and depleting health services," she said and asked the media houses to play their role in spreading awareness by broadcasting prime-time shows regarding breast cancer.

Member National Assembly Shaheen Saifullah, Head of the Clinical Oncology Department at Atomic Energy Cancer Hospital (NORI) Dr. Humera Mahmood, Director, Atomic Energy Cancer Hospital (AECH) NORI, Dr. Mohammad Faheem and other doctors and staff were also present on the occasion.

Earlier, Member National Assembly (MNA), Shaheen Saifullah who was also Member of Patient Support Group NORI shared their experience of fighting the disease with the help of NORI team.

She stressed on the emotional support from the families for the patients and also appreciated the dedication, patience and professional attitude of NORI doctors especially Dr. Faheem, Dr. Humera Mahmood and Dr. Kashif.

Dr. Faheem also shared details about the newly added facilities at the hospital. He shared the alarmingly high figures of breast cancer prevalence among women in Pakistan saying that breast cancer accounts for nearly 40% of all female malignancies which is the highest in Asia and it constitutes 25% in both the genders" Wife of Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Muneera Naeem who attended the seminar as guest of honor, stressed on need for early diagnosis being key to cure cancer. She appreciated the role of PAEC cancer hospitals and proudly shared that out of total 35 cancer treatment hospitals in Pakistan, 18 were being run by PAEC and the19th in Gilgit (GINOR) would soon start operations as its has been completed recently.