Emergency services [1122]; A ten years data from four largest cities in Punjab 2004- 2014

Emergency services were working all over the world to deal with different types of emergencies and the frequency of emergencies were increased with the passage of time. Many developing countries even don't have such services and it was difficult to estimate the scale of emergencies in those countries. To know about the types of emergencies and to help to plan for their prevention in future. Data was collected from emergency services department 1122 in four big cities of Punjab from Nov.2004-Feb.2014. Descriptive observational study. The road traffic emergencies received were 243481 in Lahore, 92367 in Faisal Abad, 52507 in Multan and33847 in Rawalpindi. Medical emergencies were 247692 in Lahore, 82910 in Faisal Abad, 112531 in Multan and 31069 in Rawalpindi. Fire incidences were 14594 in Lahore, 6369 in Faisal Abad, 3707 in Multan and 3929 in Rawalpindi. Crime incidence related emergencies were 13301 in Lahore, 15051 in Faisal Abad, 5326 in Multan and 1705 in Rawalpindi. Road traffic related emergencies were increased even some times more than medical emergencies. Fake calls were also in higher proportion

Substance abuse; among prisoners and its consequences

To study the prevalence of substance abuse among prisoners and its effects on other inmates. A cross sectional study. Central jail Faisal Abad Pakistan during Jan. 2012 to Feb 2012. All the convicted and condemned prisoners were included in the study and those exclusively charged for drugs abuse crimes were excluded. A snow ball convenient sampling technique was adopted. Sample size was not predetermined. The study population was [1080] male and above the age of 18 years. About one hundred and eighty four [184] prisoners were found using different drugs. Among them seventy six 76 [41.3%] started using drugs on entering the prison and one hundred and eight 108 [58.7%] were using drugs before coming to prison. The 91[49.5%] belonged to rural area and 93 [50.5%] belonged to urban areas. The most commonly used drug was heroin 181[96.7%] and 3[.6%] used different drugs like injections or pills. Substance abuse among prisoners was increasing day by day leading to increased crimes, health issues, and significant economic constrains in every country especially among poor nations. Strong political will and public motivation was the need of time to deal with the issue

Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding counterfeit drugs among nurses of Madina teaching hospital Faisalabad

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices among nurses regarding counterfeit drugs.

Methodology: Cross sectional study. The study was conducted in Madina Teaching Hospital which is attached to the University Medical and Dental College Faisalabad. Total number of nurses was 60 and all were included in the study. Only nurses were chosen because of their direct involvement in administering the drug/injection during duty hours and also they are the first to notice any adverse effects of drugs. Data was collected through pretested restrictive form of questionnaire. Written permission from ethical review committee and informed consent from the participants was taken before conducting the survey. All questionnaires were edited before entering in the computer. Once the data had been cleaned as thoroughly as possible, the distribution of each variable was re-examined as a final check. Non-sampling errors like selection bias, non-coverage, non-contact and non-response were tried to minimize

Results: Out of the 59 nurses who responded from a total of 60, 57 [96.6%] had heard of incidences regarding counterfeit drugs [see table I]. 59 [100%] considered them substandard in quality, 33 [55.9%] thought they were expired drugs, while 9 [15.3%] said that they were made from herbs [see table II]. However a majority of 94.9% understood that they were harmful drugs. 100% nurses said they examined the packaging meticulously and checked the expiry date before administrating the drug [see table III]. 98.3% sent any such drugs for laboratory testing [see table IV]. 100% nurses immediately stopped the use of such drug [see table V]. 34 out of the 59 nurses [57.6%] had seen adverse drug reaction in multiple patients. 89.8% said they kept records of such drugs and all of the participants [100%] reported such incidents to the authorities [see table VI]

Conclusion: Majority of the nurses were aware of the counterfeit drugs problem and its effects on the patients. Over all, most of them understood that counterfeit drugs were harmful to the health of the patients and this study further helped to clear their concepts

HIV infection; prevalence among intravenous drug users

Human immune deficiency virus [HIV] infection was a major health problem all over the world. The infection had become pandemic and no country was immune. The main burden of disease was shared by developing countries and their crippled economies were unable to deal with it. As a result the number of HIV patients were increasing day by day. Treatment was expensive and preventive measures were not effective. The intravenous drug users [IDUs] were major contributors in its spread. To assess the prevalence of HIV infection by determining the frequency of HIV infection in intravenous drug users.Cross-sectional study. Rehabilitation center for IDU,s in District Headquarter Hospital Faisalabad [DHQ], a Tertiary Care Hospital, Affiliated with Punjab Medical College during Jan.2013 to Dec.2013. Subjects and All I. V. drug users attending the rehabilitation center of D.H.Q. hospital were included in the study. All were subjected to be screened for HIV/AIDS infection. Total 352 patients attended the center. Each patient was given a code number to hide the identity and results of tests were kept secret. The blood samples were collected and labeled with respected code on it. Total 352 intravenous drug users were enrolled at rehabilitation center and 96 were tested positive for HIV infection. Another 62 belonged to urban area and 34 belonged to rural area. About 80 were living with their families and 16 were living out of their families. The 78% were not having sufficient earnings for their living. Intravenous drug users were threat to public health in transmitting HIV infection by sharing needles

Dengue outbreak; descriptive epidemiological analysis and vector surveillance in District Faisalabad during 2011

This longitudinal study was conducted during August to December 2011 in District Faisalabad to analyze epidemiological pattern of dengue outbreak in the district. Weekly trends of all cases [893] reported through Disease Surveillance System from week No. 33 to 52 were monitored. On the basis of this continuous flow of information, different ongoing vector control measures were adopted simultaneously in different areas of the district and larval indices were calculated. The Surveillance data was used to monitor the trends of the outbreak in terms of time, person and place. Teams of 3102 trained workers were formed to conduct various surveillance activities like vector surveillance, fogging, larviciding, and indoor residual sprays. During indoor and outdoor vector surveillance, teams also calculated the larval indices for vector control. The rural to urban ratio of cases was 1:3. Maximum cases [215] were reported from Jinnah Town in urban area and [102] cases were reported from Tehsil Sadar among the rural areas. Most cases of dengue fever were observed during the 37-46 weeks of the year 2011. Mean age was 29 +/- 14.7 years for rural and 35 +/- 16.5 years for urban. Male to Female ratio was 1.2:1 in urban and 1.8:1 in rural areas. Majority of the cases belonged to the age group 21 -30. The case fatality rate was 6/1000 cases. The house Index was 1.03%, the indoor container index was 0.26% and the breateu index was found 1.21%. Maximum cases occurred during 40th to 44th weeks. Male were affected more as compared to females. Jinnah Town in urban areas and Tehsil Sadar among the rural areas reported maximum number of cases. The different calculated larval indices like house index, indoor/outdoor container index and breateu index showed moderate larval growth and hence, the outbreak was within control