MULTAN, Aug 30: The PC-1 (planning commission) for the Multan Institute of Cardiology has been revised to be presented before the provincial planning and development division for final approval.

The P&D department had raised certain objections to the PC-1 prepared by the management of the Nishtar Medical College and Hospital for the MIC, which included justification for the need to acquire two angiography machines and an ice cream plant.

However, the provincial government has recently appointed a full-time project director, Dr Naeem Tareen, at the MIC to carry out the project, which is the second of its kind in the province (after Lahore’s Punjab Institute of Cardiology).

Presenting the PC-1 contents to the P&D department officials the other day, Dr Tareen defended the proposal of acquiring two angiography machines for the MIC. He, however, agreed to the department’s objection to the demand of installation of an ice cream plant at the hospital.

Talking to Dawn on telephone from Lahore, Dr Tareen said, the cardiology institute in Multan, in fact, required four angioplasty machines in the long run. Initially, two machines would do, he added.

He said he had served as a cardiologist in the US for the most part of his professional life, but never seen an ice cream plant installed at any of the cardiology hospitals there.

The provincial health department, Dr Tareen said, had formally taken over possession of the Multan’s former commissioner’s house to build the proposed MIC over there. He said the old building structure of the house would have to be demolished to accommodate the MIC building in line with its architectural plan.

He said he knew the historical significance of the old structure of the commissioner’s house, which was once known as the Shish Mahal of Nawab Muzaffar Khan. “But architects are of the view that the MIC, according to its specifications, cannot be built without demolishing the old structure,” he added.

Dr Tareen said he had immediately demanded Rs10 million from the government to be able to pay fees of the consultants and spend on other initial works needed to gear up the project. Eight officials of the Nishtar Hospital had been deputed at the MIC to carry out the paper work and fulfil other requisites during its construction.

Dispelling the impression that he was alien to Multan, the MIC project director said: “Some people having vested interests aired rumours against me, even though I used to be the president of the Nishtar Alumni in the US.”

Mango growers: The Mango Growers Association eyes Iran as the potential market to export the local product, association president Zahid Husain Gardezi said on Saturday.

A press statement quoted Mr Gardezi, who has recently returned from Iran, as saying he had met a number of leading fruit importers in Iran and found them willing to import mangoes from Pakistan.

Although the export of mangoes to Iran was not allowed till now, smuggled mangoes of inferior quality were being sold in the Iranian markets, he said, pointing out that some unscrupulous elements were trading Pakistani mango to Iran in the name of Indian mango.

The MGA president said both Iran and China were allowing import of Pakistani mangoes to their respective soils and, therefore, it would be appropriate to explore the new openings in the neighbouring markets. He, however, underlined the need to discourage low-cost-low-return trade in the mango export.

RESULTS: The Bahauddin Zakariya University declared on Saturday the results of MA Economics and MA Arabic, second annual examinations 2002.

Some 177 candidates took MA Economics examination. Of them, as many as 93 have been declared successful at a ratio of 52.54 per cent.

In MA Arabic exam, some 14, out of the 17 candidates, have been declared successful. The pass percentage is 82.35.