HYDERABAD, Feb 19: The Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences is organising its fifth annual international conference on the "Role of Medical Universities in Promotion of Research” from February 24 to 26 at its Jamshoro campus.

This was announced by the chairman of the conference organising committee, Professor Abdul Sattar Memon, at a news conference at the press club here on Monday.

He said that the conference was expected to be attended by 1,000 delegates from all over the country and abroad.

He said that several delegates invited to the conference were authorities in their disciplines and carried years of experience in medical and allied fields.

Underlining salient features of the conference, he said that 18 public awareness programmes would be held about diseases and disorders common in the country. The awareness programmes, he added, would be held on February 22 at the Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad, where different tests would be carried out free of charge.

He said that 24 pre-conference workshops for postgraduates and consultants in different disciplines were being held. Some of he facilitators would come from the UK to conduct the workshops which would be spread over 10 days, he added.

During the three-day conference, 136 scientific papers would be read out by delegates. A team of British Society of Gastroenterology, comprising seven speakers, would deliver lectures on the concluding day, he said.

A scientific exhibition by various pharmaceutical companies, both national and multinational, would also be held for the delegates, Professor Memon said.

Senate chairman Mohammadmian Soomro would inaugurate the conference on February 24 and Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad would preside over the concluding ceremony on 26, he said.

He said that the university had organized such conferences in the past, which had contributed to improvement in medical research and education.