KARACHI, Dec 22: In an effort to better channelize their professional and social activities, the old students of Dow Medical College launched the World Association of Dow Alumni (WADA) on Monday.

The objectives of the association are to achieve meaningful linkages among the ex-students of DMC and contribute towards enhancing education standard at their alma mater, besides organizing alumni chapters around the world.

These aims were adopted with an overwhelming majority through a resolution initialled by Prof S. Tipu Sultan, the DMC’s principal, Dr Hamid Zaki and Dr Zia Moiz Ahmad of the Dow Graduates Association of North America (Dogana).

The signatories to the resolution included several well-known professionals, namely Prof I.B. Soomro, Prof M. Khursheed, Prof Zakiuddin Oonwalla, Prof Mohsin Ali and Dr Abdul Bari Khan.

In his speech, Prof Tipu Sultan said the WADA would not only provide the old and new graduates of the DMC to interact with each other but would also allow them to better channelize their professional and philanthropic efforts.

Recalling the uplift projects that have been launched in recent years at the Dow Medical College and Civil Hospital, the professor said that the focus of WADA’s activities would remain this institution.

He pointed out that the old students of DMC had helped setting up a state-of-the-art emergency operation theatre and a department of emergency obstetrics.

He said that the alumni had decided to donate more than $10,000 to the Patients Welfare Association and more than $30,000 to the operation theatres complex. Prof Tipu Sultan expressed optimism that all these projects would be completed successfully.

“Dowites have gathered here and there is hope of improvement,” he said.

He said that there were 15,000 graduates of the DMC, who had been working in various positions around the world. “Today we have friends with us from the US, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia,” he added.

Prof Sultan announced that a room had been set aside for the newly-launched association.

Earlier, the welcome address was presented by Dr Hamid Zaki. Dr Shafiq-ur-Rehman, in his presentation entitled “Insight into Dow”, recalled history of the DMC.

Dr Zia Moiz Ahmad told the audience that the old students of Dow Medical College living abroad had tried several times in the past to undertake professional and social work activities in Pakistan but to no avail. “But the situation, both in the country and in DMC then were not conducive to such activities,” he pointed out.

However, Dr Ahmad said that things had improved since then and that was why the Pakistani doctors living abroad had managed to launch many development projects.