March 10, 2006	Friday	Safar 9, 1427

KARACHI, March 9: The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) on Thursday awarded 511 fellowships and diplomas to doctors of Karachi and other provinces in various specialities and disciplines at its 40th convocation.

Chairman Senate Mohammedmian Soomro, the chief guest, also handed fellowship without examinations to five distinguished medical educationists and specialists including the Punjab Health Minister, Dr Tahir Ali Javed, and gold medals to outstanding graduates of fellowship examinations.

A large number of medical professionals, educationist, graduates and parents attended the convocation held at the college.

As many as 483 fellows coming from Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab areas were conferred fellowships, while another 28 medical and dental graduates were given diplomas in Health Care System Management and Health Professionals Education. The one-year diplomas were awarded for the first time.

Mr Soomro, on the occasion, exhorted the recipients of the fellowships and diplomas to utilize all their talents and expertise for eliminating sufferings of the ailing humanity and creating awareness about preventive measures against diseases throughout the country.

He said, without attaining excellence in medical education and training, there couldn’t be a better understanding about healthcare system and its needs.

The medical profession is taken as a noble profession, and as such, there lay great responsibilities on doctors, he said, adding that professionals should go for quality, which could be reached only through interaction with the outer world and not by remaining in isolation.

He urged the medical professionals to focus on research, which was the only means for bringing quality in health care.

“It will be your researches and acquaintance to modern technologies, which will bring about changes in the existing health scene,” he told doctors and specialists, adding that they could also help develop the local pharmaceutical industries and availability of medicines at affordable prices.

He said serious thought must be given to medical research particularly in a situation when the country possessed tremendous expertise in the field of medicine as well.

The chairman Senate lauded the role of the CPSP in imparting specialized training to doctors and hoped the College would continue responding to the challenges of the coming days.

In his report, the President of CPSP, Prof M Sultan Farooqui, said his college now offered fellowships (FCSP) in 53 specialities and diplomas (DCSP) in 18 disciplines.

The College at present has 7,522 registered trainees in 18 CPSP approved medical institutions under the supervision of 1,174 approved supervisors in more than 1,000 units or departments throughout the country, he added.

Talking about the CPSP’s regional centres, he said those state-of-the-art learning resource centres brought learning facilities on the doorstep of candidates. The College also has three overseas centres – at Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Kathmandu in Nepal.

Prof Farooqui said the CPSP had over the years earned international recognition in collaboration with sister institutions in the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Nepal, Sudan and other countries.

Those who received fellowships without examinations at the convocation included Dr Tahir Ali Javed, Prof Noshad A Shaikh, Sindh Health Secretary, Dr Saadiya Aziz Karim, Dean of Medicine, University of Karachi, Dr Syed Fazle Hadi, Executive Director of PIMS Islamabad, and Prof Arbab Ghulam Rasool, Dean/Director of Postgraduate Medical Institute, Quetta.

Recipients of the gold medals were Dr Muhammad Neoman Siddiqui, Dr Rizwana and Dr Mohammad Ali.