KARACHI, June 27: The Dow University of Health Sciences has decided to include tuberculosis and its control in the curriculum for medical students from the academic session 2005-2006 with a view to create awareness about World Health Organization’s collaborative programmes, especially those aimed at communicable disease control, amongst its faculty and students. The decision was made at a meeting convened by Dow varsity’s vice-chancellor Prof Masood Hameed Khan and attended by WHO Operations Officer for Sindh, Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi, DUHS Registrar Dr Meher F Hansotia, Sindh Medical College Principal Prof Tariq Sharafatullah, Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases Director Dr Ashraf Sadique, and the vice-principal of Dow Medical College, Dr Qazi Irshad Ahmed.

The meeting resolved that student organizations such as the Patients Welfare Association and other volunteer students would be asked for creating social mobilization.

In order to generate interest amongst students, poster competitions will be carried out encouraging medical students to make optimum use of the internet and learning about graphic presentations. The first, second and third position holders will be given cash prizes of Rs100,000, Rs50,000 and Rs25,000 respectively on the World Tuberculosis Day.

It was agreed that the Sindh Directorate of Tuberculosis Control would arrange a series of week-long training workshops (four in total) for senior and mid-level faculty member in order to impart knowledge and promote practices conducive to controlling and managing the disease along scientific lines.

The meeting further decided that clinical medical students of third and fourth years and even postgraduate students would be posted in pulmonology for 15 days as part of their clinical rotation in general medicine.—APP