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Showing posts from October, 2025

Recurring flood devastation

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Another monsoon, another reckoning — Pakistan’s floods demand foresight, stronger governance, and climate accountability. Pakistan once again finds itself grappling with the aftermath of a devastating monsoon season — a recurring ordeal that now follows a grim pattern. This monsoon season has brought heavy rains, cloudbursts, and overflowing dams that have caused widespread destruction across provinces, claiming hundreds of lives, washing away homes, livestock, and crops, and crippling infrastructure already weakened by the floods of 2022 and 2024. According to reports, by mid-September this year, over 1,000 people — including 255 children — had lost their lives, while more than 1,100 others were injured. Some 2.5 million residents of Punjab and Sindh were reportedly displaced. From the rural heartlands to industrial centres, communities once again confront the colossal task of rebuilding — not just homes and roads, but also livelihoods and hope. Entire trades and small businesses...

National emergency response to Pakistan’s mental health crisis urged

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PMA demands policy shift, disaster-linked funding, and expanded training to address untreated psychological trauma, as SMHA reiterates commitment to strengthen mental healthcare in Sindh IV Report KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has sounded the alarm over what it describes as an “abysmal” overall state of mental healthcare in the country, urging the government to prioritise access to psychological and psychiatric services as a national emergency. Marking World Mental Health Day (WMHD) , the PMA warned that the growing burden of mental distress continues to go largely untreated, undermining the nation’s overall resilience and recovery. In a statement issued on October 10, PMA Secretary General Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro said that Pakistan’s mental health system remains grossly unprepared to meet the needs of its increasingly traumatised population. “There is no health without mental health,” the association stressed, calling for urgent and sustained measures to integr...