Autism Centre established at Pims.

ISLAMABAD -- Minister of Health Abdul Qadir Patel on Thursday inaugurated an Autism Centre on the premises of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

Talking to journalists, he said it was the first autism centre to be established in a public-sector hospital.

'According to estimates, there are 400,000 children suffering from autism in Pakistan. Children will be treated here and I request other provinces to establish centres as well,' he said, adding that the number of patients with mental illnesses was continuously increasing. He said that the tolerance level of people was also decreasing.

Over the demand of employees, the minister requested the President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi to sign a Medical Teaching Institution Repeal Bill, which had already been sailed through the Parliament, at the earliest.

Electricity bill of Rs30 million per month is unaffordable, hospital management says

Replying to a question, he said that Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) was already delayed for one and half month so it will not be further delayed and will be held on Nov 13. Talking about Journalist Arshad Sharif's murder, he said that there were different angels in the investigation and admitted that Pakistan was far behind in a number of fields.

Meanwhile, as inflation has hit the masses hard, management of Pims on Thursday informed a parliamentary committee that financial expenses had become unbearable due to increased electricity bills especially after addition of fuel adjustment charges.

The committee decided to call Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) over the issue. The hospital director said that it had become difficult to manage the budget because of exorbitant bills. However, a representative of the health ministry said that there an issue in Sindh but K-Electric offered subsidy for hospitals. The committee...