Post Graduate Medical Institute & Lahore General Hospital Principal Prof. Dr. Sardar Muhammad Al-Farid Zafar has said that due to increasing air and water pollution, temperature is going high day by day and on the other hand forests are disappearing also. He added that presently direct threats are emerging on the planet which pose a great hazard to the health of the common man and due to these factors in addition to endangering the survival of human life on earth, new diseases are plaguing the human society as well. He highlighted that WHO estimates that more than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes. This includes the climate crisis which is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. The climate crisis is also a health crisis.
These views were expressed by Prof. Al-freed Zafar in a lecture to Medical Students on the topic of “Our Planet Our Health”. Associate Prof. Dr. Irfan Malik Assistant Prof. Dr. Muhammad Maqsood and Dr. Laila Shafiq spoke on the occasion. Prof. Alfreed Zafar said that due to the imbalance in the zone around the earth, radiation is affecting human health due to which cancer, skin diseases, respiratory system and heart diseases are on the rise for which we need new strategies need to be evolved. He said that full attention is required to keep mankind and the planet healthy as the present situation demands that a path should be taken for the protection of human health and due to developed countries the masses of the poor and backward societies not suffer.
Prof. Alfreed Zafar said that it is also important that the number of housing societies is increasing and forests are declining rapidly in the world. He mentioned that we have to take steps to ensure that there is no depletion of greenery on the earth. It is imperative to plant trees on 10% of the area to maintain the balance of nature in housing societies. He said that the earth is our planet and its environment is linked to human health which must be kept as green as possible. Prof. Alfreed Zafar said that industrial development has definitely increased the employment rate but industrial waste and chimney fumes have increased the environmental pollution as well for which we should switch over using solar plants and electric gadgets instead of thermal, coal, furnace and diesel resources. Prof. Alfreed Zafar said that in order to protect human health from environmental impact, it is important to go for walk one day a week for office or business place, use public transport instead of using individual vehicle. Prof. Alfreed
Zafar asserted that we should stop using beverages and processed food and try to use fresh vegetables and fruits so that human health is minimally affected. Prof. Alfreed Zafar asked medical students that they should keep these factors in their professional life as environmental changes play an important role on the human health.
