KARACHI: Girl students outclassed boys in various medical and health disciplines as they clinched all the 15 awards for the Best Graduate 2019 along with 25 gold medals at the 10th convocation of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) held on Thursday at the Ojha campus.

More than 1,300 students, including medical graduates, postgraduates and nurses received their degrees.

Two students were awarded PhD degrees.

Eighty-one high achievers were honoured with gold, silver and bronze medals.

The Best Graduate 2019 awards went to Hamama Barry (MBBS), Nighat Naved (dental studies), Zarmina Omar (Pharm-D), Sehzeen (medical technology), Mahwish Bilal (occupational therapy), Noureen (nursing), Sandal (nursing), Amna Saleem (dental hygiene), Areesha Sehrish (dental technology), Ayesha Siddiqui (prosthetics & orthotic), Syeda Rida Batool (doctorate in physical therapy), Wajiha Hamid (health management), Rafiya Mohammad Sohail (health management), Marium Rukhsar (radiologic technology) and Syeda Sadaf Zehra Zaidi (BS nutrition).

Mohammad Shafiq and Anil Dawood, both nursing students, received gold medals; the rest went to girls.

Girls also took away most of the silver and bronze medals (50), as only four medals in these categories went to boys.

Speaking as the chief guest, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, also the chancellor of all public-sector universities in the province, urged female students to show the same commitment in their professional lives as they had demonstrated in their educational career.

“The government wants to support students in playing their role with full responsibility and dignity in their professional careers. The society also needs to help girls realise their potential,” he said, while congratulating students on their achievement.

The governor appreciated the university’s progress and said it’s a matter of pride to see DUHS ranked among the top 500 universities of Asia and its graduates were performing well across the world.

“You are fortunate that you got the opportunity to study at this prestigious institution and must take advantage of the opportunities life presents you with,” he said, while urging students to continue their pursuit for excellence.

He also spoke of government initiatives for higher education and said the federal government had started the Successful Young Generation Programme so that students could make maximum use of their talent.

“With this programme, you can take a maximum loan of Rs5 million and start your own small clinic, diagnostic or research centre.”

He hoped that graduating students would make service to humanity their sole mission in practical life.

Vice Chancellor DUHS Prof Mohammed Saeed Quraishy highlighted university’s milestones achieved so far and said the institution had been providing the country with the best healthcare professionals.

“Serve humanity with the best of your abilities and never deny treatment to the poor,” he urged students.

Earlier, pro-vice chancellor Prof Kartar Dawani presented the welcome note.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2019