LAHORE, Aug 3: Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Husain has asked the medical professionals to float ideas to improve the quality of services and facilities.
The PM had joined a meeting of the Inter-University Faculty Board in which the University of Health Sciences was presenting updated curricula of nursing, dentistry, MBBS and postgraduate medical education at the Governor's House on Tuesday. Mushahid Husain accompanied the premier.
Stating that the federal government was organizing a medical convention in Rawalpindi on Aug 10, the PM said he wanted input from medical professionals so that the government could make landmark decisions that could improve the health sector.
He said he was making this demand from medical professionals all over the country. Giving a brief presentation to the PM, UHS vice-chancellor Prof Dr Malik Husain Mubashar said the university had revised medical curricula after almost three decades and upgraded the examination system in just 15 months.
He said the foreign universities had now started recognizing the UHS' examination system. The University of Texas and the UHS would soon sign a contract on an examination project, he said, adding President Gen Pervez Musharraf would sign the document on behalf of the latter.
He said the General Medical Council, UK, had some reservations about the curricula and degrees, and the UHS took up the task and revised the curricula being presented to Governor Khalid Maqbool.
He said the university had recently launched MSc in electro-medical engineering to produce manpower that could keep hospitals' costly equipment in working condition. He said the university was also launching bachelors and postgraduate degree programmes in nursing.
Responding to a piece of information that the Punjab government had upgraded academic courses and status of nurses, the PM said he had asked for this in Islamabad but he was told that it could not be done. He said now he would again ask the persons concerned in Islamabad to do it.
The governor added that the Punjab government had restored the honour of nurses and was upgrading their grades. Prof Tariq Salahuddin of the Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, suggested that the government should constitute a think-tank for holding discussions on a regular basis and give suggestions to the government. He also called for developing institutions instead of departments.
Postgraduate College of Nursing Principal Irshad Begum said the government should develop career structure for nurses, upgrade the college into an institution, and provide all required facilities.
A doctor told the PM that there was an acute shortage of teachers in medical colleges and even the sanctioned vacant posts were not being filled in by the government. De'Montmorency Institute of Dental Sciences Principal Prof Dr Muhammad Rafiq Chattha said the Dental Hospital was the oldest among the dental hospitals, which had now again been upgraded after a long period.
Informing that the Punjab chief minister had given 80 kanals for the institute, Prof Chattha urged the PM to direct the Punjab government to announce a special grant. He also requested him to lay the foundation stone of the institute at the new site.
The PM asked Prof Chattha to see him in Islamabad to discuss and finalize the plan. The students stressed the need for their foreign exposure and scholarships for higher studies.
As the PM left the place, the governor asked the participants to integrate suggestions for the convention. According to the consolidated list of suggestions, the meeting said the basic medical and clinical science teachers' shortage in colleges should be overcome by filling in vacant posts on a regular basis.
The government, they said, should establish a medical university in South Punjab to upgrade medical education in the neglected area. It said the Nishtar Medical College should be upgraded as a university like the King Edward Medical College. Besides, the government should fund the brilliant MBBS students for higher studies abroad.
The meeting said the nursing college should be upgraded as an institute, all required facilities be provided, nurses' career structure upgraded and they be offered training facilities at home and abroad. It said the federal government should also give grant for the new de'Montmorency Institute of Dental Sciences.
