KARACHI, Dec 27: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan on Wednesday inaugurated a digital library, developed at a cost of Rs37 million provided by the Higher Education Commission at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS).

The computer networking named the Internet and Intranet Digital Library will not only connect the three constituent institutions of the university -- Dow Medical College, Sindh Medical College and Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases -- but will also provide multi-station on-line working library for faculty members and the under- and post-graduates of the university, for a possible access to 20,000 full text journals, 250 national and international institutes and universities.

After making a round of the different facilities of the university and performing the inauguration of the IT working hub, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, who is also the chancellor of the public sector universities in the province, said the setting up of the library was a significant step towards the acquisition of knowledge.

Without knowledge one could not stand in competitions, and capacity building of any institution by enhancing the number of trained human force was also an important factor, he said.

He said that during the five years the government had made an increase up to 1200 per cent in its budget for higher education, which indicated the fact how the government valued higher education and the inculcation of knowledge and training in literate individuals of the country. Human resource development was among the top-most priorities of the government now as it was a prerequisite for national progress and development, he added.

Speaking on the utility of digital library scheme of the HEC, the regional director of the commission at Karachi, S. M. Iqbal said that it was only in 2005 that one million articles were downloaded across the country.

In his address of welcome, DHUS vice-chancellor Prof Masood Hameed Khan apprised the governor and the audience about the different projects completed since the inception of the university in December 2003 and about the future projects and maintained that his university was setting new standards by establishing knowledge-based technology.

He said as many as 26 faculty members had registered themselves under the PhD programme of the university. To keep pace with the latest trends in medical education a Genome Centre had also been approved by the HEC for the DHUS, he added.

The vice-chancellor said that about 300 work stations would be available under the newly commissioned Digital Library project at the DMC, SMC, Ojha institute and two emerging dental and medical colleges of the university.

Dr Nizamuddin, the project director of the digital library, also spoke.