KARACHI, Jan 8: Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro has said that Dental Medicine is a fairly neglected discipline in our country and it is indeed somewhat rare for institutions of quality to come up.

“The field of Dental Medicine is a highly professional and specialized one and would, therefore, require a high-level of planning and expertise in establishing an institute of this nature,” he said while inaugurating the Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine here on Tuesday.

He described this new institution of learning in Karachi as a major contribution to the field of education being made in the private sector.

However, the governor observed that what was particularly commendable was the emphasis on quality which was noticeable from the infrastructure of the institution.

The governor referred to the state of education in the country and said everyone knew that a good many of our public and private sector institutions had been unable to academically fly high because if various factors.

At the university-level, he observed, there was a high degree of bureaucracy and red-tape. There was also lack of discipline among the students. There were also overwhelming financial problems.

He said hardly 1 per cent of our GDP was being spent on education as a whole and, therefore, there was need to follow the path being used in other countries and other societies — turning to the private sector.

Fortunately today in Pakistan, especially in Karachi, a number of very good private schools, colleges and universities had come up, he said and added that these private educational institutions were rendering great service to the public in providing education to a lot of young people, though at a high cost.

In the long run, he said, the burden of education, especially higher education, had to be shared largely by the private sector and the trend was already visible.

Governor Soomro said what was necessary is that this education should not be too expensive, should be of good quality, not just commercial, and available not only to a few.

He said in the medical field a very fine example had been set by the Aga Khan University and also had some fine public sector institutions in this field, such as the Dow Medical College and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

He said he hoped that in due course the Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine would be counted among the best in the field.

Sindh Health Minister Maj-Gen Ahsan Ahmed said on the occasion that no government could afford to provide 100 per cent health cover to its people from its own resources. He said in Pakistan 65 per cent health cover was being provided by the private sector.—APP