Dow varsity plans postgraduate institutes: Campus Round-up

The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) is working on a plan for the development of a number of institutes for postgraduate studies at its Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases and Sindh Medical College campuses.

The university currently has two undergraduate colleges, the Dow Medical College (DMC) and the Sindh Medical College (SMC), and one postgraduate medical institute. The DUHS Karachi Act was passed by the provincial assembly this year keeping in view the growth and development of Karachi and importance of postgraduate studies in health sciences.

On its DMC campus, the university has already started construction of buildings for administrative and examination offices. DUHS Registrar Dr Meher F. Hansootia says that an extensive plan was presented at a recent meeting convened by the Higher Education Commission in connection with a phase-wise development of new teaching facilities and capacity building of faculty members.

He says that the infrastructure for different projects costing about Rs1 billion were proposed, but, the projects are being revised to divert some money to faculty development programmes, which would be funded by the HEC.

At the Ojha institute, nearly 150-acre land is available, where a 500-bed hospital and a college will be established. The Institute of Basic Sciences; the Institute of Postgraduate Studies, the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; and the Institute of Medical Technology will also be set up on the Ojha campus.

At the SMC premises, an institute of dental medicine and an institute of bio-medical engineering will be set up. Both the institutes would likely to cost around Rs118 million.

Dr Hansootia says that the university is also trying to acquire a 500-acre land in the Education City for further expansion.

* * * * *

It is likely that the first meeting of the DHUS syndicate will be held in the third week of September, where, among other items, various orders by the vice-chancellor and recommendations of the academic council will be considered.

Vice-chancellor Dr Masood Hameed says that there has been some delay in holding syndicate meeting only because the administration wanted the elected representatives of teachers, along with the government nominated or ex-officio members to take part in the first meeting.

The election of four teachers to the syndicate from lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors constituencies will be held on Sept 13 or 14. About 320 teachers are registered as voters and nomination papers for the elections will be received by the university registrar till Sept 4, says an official.

* * * * *

Botany department of Karachi University in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission organized a four-day workshop on current trends in plant biology for college teachers last week.

Plant biology has made tremendous progress during the last 30 years, with special reference to molecular biology, physiology, ecology and systematics. New concepts were proposed and novel methods were developed, but, the teachers engaged in teaching botany at degree colleges rarely have been able to receive such information.

The workshop was aimed at updating teachers and providing them information about new developments. Among others, a former KU vice-chancellor, Dr S.I. Ali, Science Faculty Dean Dr Muhammad Qaiser, Dr S. Shahid Shaukat, Dr M. Afzal, Dr Zafar Iqbal and Dr Salim Shahzad lectured on different topics.

A noted scientist from the UK, Dr Mujeeb Kazi, delivered the keynote address on the first day of the programme. He described his work in Mexico together with Prof Norman Bourlag, a Nobel laureate, on the development of Mexipak wheat.

Rein in the killer on the road

Commenting on a road accident in which nine members of a family were killed, Kawish writes that rash driving and lack of respect for traffic rules claim a large number of lives every year.

In the above-mentioned incident, a speeding truck hit a camel-cart carrying poor people, killing nine of them, six of them children, and injuring around 20. It is reported that the truck driver pressed the accelerator to avoid a traffic official who wanted him to stop in order to extort some money from him.

The daily says that from issuing a driving licence to checking the road-worthiness of a vehicle, no traffic law is enforced in letter and spirit in Sindh. Traffic police personnel are there on the road, but not to enforce the law but to extort money. And extortion is possible only when a driver breaks a law by speeding, his vehicle is in bad shape or its documents are not in order.

The practice of letting violations go unpunished is tantamount to giving drivers, particularly of inter-city buses and lorries, the licence to kill. Rashly-driven heavy vehicles knocking down motorcyclists or ramming donkey- or camel-carts has become a common phenomenon.

The daily calls for immediate arrest of not only the truck driver but also of the traffic policeman who was equally responsible for it. Both the culprits, it says, should be given exemplary punishment.

Referring to the recent tribal bloodshed in the Ghotki area, Halchalpoints out that the Mahars have a grudge against the Pitafis because they consider the latter to be involved in the famous Shaista Almani-Balkhsher Mahar matrimonial dispute.

The murder of two Pitafis apparently by the rival tribesmen followed by the killing of a Mahar clansman has heightened tension between the sides and engendered a sense of insecurity among innocent tribesmen.

The paper sees vested interests behind the surge of violence and urges the factions to observe restraint and keep an eye on criminal elements who exploit such situations and add fuel to fire.

Ibrat takes up the issue of a sudden rise in incidents of kidnapping and says that while the high profile case of the kidnapping of Larkana's rice trader Santosh Kumar is yet to be solved, a series of kidnappings has taken place in different parts of Sindh.

It asks how do police, which manage to arrest AlQaida suspects from their hideouts, fail to apprehend kidnappers, and adds that kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative business and almost an 'industry' in which police and feudal lords also have a stake.

Sindh criticizes the teachers' organization for supporting a woman teacher who is accused of handing over a teenage girl to four men who criminally assaulted her.

It also refers to the shaving of a woman's head and eyebrows by her husband, a sub-inspector of the Anti-Corruption Establishment, following a petty domestic dispute, and deplores that the government and the society have failed to curb crimes against women.

Awami Awaz writes that in his first address to the nation as prime minister, Shaukat Aziz has advocated construction of the Kalabagh dam. It says that while the premier has promised to take the opposition along and strengthen democratic norms, he should not forget that Sindh has strong reservations over the project.

The economist premier, it adds, must take into account sentiments of the water-starved lower-riparian province which firmly believes that the dam will destroy its agriculture-based economy. And because Mr Aziz, like others, also talks of consensus, he must take into consideration the voice of Sindh, the paper concludes.