KARACHI, Dec 18: The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), which has already started postgraduate programme under the semester system, is planning to conduct its MBBS programme under the same system.
This was announced by the vice-chancellor of the DUHS, Dr Masood Hameed Khan, while speaking at a scientific programme organised by the National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology (NIDE) of the university.
Dr Khan also said that classes of the newly-introduced MSc (diploma) in Diabetes and Endocrinology at the university would begin from January 1. He said that a country could not make progress without providing higher education to its masses.
Dr Khan said that a modern research laboratory had been established at Ojha campus of the Dow varsity, under which blood samples would also be collected through mobile collection points at discounted rates.
Speaking as chief guest on the occasion, Dr Tassawar Hussain, Principal, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, said that diabetes was spreading like an epidemic in the entire world. He stressed the need for creating awareness about the disease among the patients and their family members so as to avoid complications which made the treatment very expensive.
The director of diabetes and endocrinology institute, Prof Zaman Sheikh, said that in all ten candidates coming from the public and the private sector had been selected for the two-year MSc diabetes diploma programme. In addition to imparting education and training, the NIDE was providing services to patients with diabetes and endocrinology without charging a single penny.
Speaking about diabetes and relevant therapies, Prof Sheikh said that prevalence of type-2 diabetes and obesity in children and adolescents was increasing enormously in the country. Regular brisk walking and adherence to a suitable dietary plan and change in life style could help avert any severity, he said.
Prof Samad Shera said that about seven million people at present were suffering from diabetes in the country. “The figure can go up to 11 million by the year 2025, in the absence of appropriate measures”, he said.
A seminar on diabetic foot was also held.
In the meantime, the Professional Development Centre (PDC) of the Dow University of Health Sciences conducted a lecture on “Recent advances in minimally-invasive treatment protocols for treating low back pain”.
Dr Syed Nadeem Ahsan, a Dow graduate at present working with an USA institution as main management specialist, said that back pain was a very common condition sometimes difficult to treat.
He informed the audience that much progress had been made in improving the diagnosis and treatment of low back pain through refinement of such “minimally invasive” tools as fluoroscopy, provocation discography, percutaneous disc decompression procedures, etc in the last decade.
