PESHAWAR, Aug 23: The International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA) is organizing a seven-day workshop in the city, commencing from August 24, to impart necessary knowledge to the students in order to meet the health care requirements of the Afghan refugees.

Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar press club here on Saturday, president of the IFMSA Pakistan, Tariq Javid Alam said that the workshop was aimed at improving the capability of medical students regarding treatment of the Afghan refugees.

“Medical curriculum in colleges cover the clinical side of health care, but the subject needed to be studied in totality to achieve the desired goals,” said Mr Alam.

He said the IFMSA had 1.6 million members in over 100 countries who were striving hard to provide health care services to the displaced people in the world.

The IFMSA, established five years back, has been modelled after the UN system.

Having its branches in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the USA and Pakistan, the organization was established with the sole aim of helping the hapless refugees around the globe, said Mr Alam.

He said because of the ever-increasing armed conflicts in the world, the number of refugees was on the rise.   One such example was Pakistan, where the number of the Afghan refugees had registered a great increase over the period of 25 years of war in Afghanistan, he said.

These refugees had been living in Pakistan in poor conditions, he added.

Mr Alam said that the organization was carrying out activities such as workshops, training programmes and seminars to ascertain the root cause of the poor health care situation of the refugees.

About 60 medical students would attend the workshop, he said, adding the chief health adviser to the UNHCR, apart from other experts,  would deliver lectures on various themes. The workshop, being organized in collaboration with the UNHCR, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), and Unesco would comprise seven training sessions.

Federal Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan would inaugurate the workshop while NWFP governor would be the chief guest at the closing ceremony.