KARACHI, Dec 23: As many as 71 graduates were awarded MBBS, BSc, MD and MPhil degrees at the 3rd convocation of Ziauddin Medical University, held at its Clifton campus on Thursday.

The Governor Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, presided over the convocation and gave away degrees and gold medals to students. Besides the key-note address, a lecture was also delivered on Sir Ziauddin Ahmad in connection with his 58th death anniversary. Adviser to the Chief Minister on Health Faisal Malik was also among the dignitaries present on the dais.

A total of 35 students belonging to the fourth batch of the MBBS programme, 21 of BSc (Medical Technology) third batch, three MD, and two Phil students were awarded degrees in person.

In his convocation address, Governor Ibad, mentioned that a doctor's role today was seen not only as a healthcare provider but also as communicator, manager and decision maker. As such, the role of medical universities also doubled, he added.

He was of the view that hands on training provided by the ZMU set it apart as a quality institution where efforts were made to nurture health practitioners as citizens with well-rounded qualities, engaged with their society, and driven by more altruistic concept than profit.

He hoped the recent amendments to the charter of the ZMU by the provincial assembly had enabled the varsity to establish more new and creative learning programmes at affordable price for the youths of Sindh and Pakistan.

Referring to a certain proposals and demands placed by a couple of speakers during the convocation, Dr Ibad those would surely be taken into consideration. He pointed out that proposals for including representatives from the private sector health education institutions in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council were valid and authorities would be pursued accordingly.

This would help improve the quality of medical education and services in the health sector, Ibad said. The Chancellor of ZMU, Dr Asim Hussain, said the university was cognizant of its social responsibilities, and among other activities, it had also embarked upon a population based primary healthcare programme with active community participation for 20,000 people in the adjacent katchi abadis of Sikandarabad.

He viewed that in order to improve the standard of medical education, the Sindh government should have legal provision for conducting exams for licenses of all MBBS graduates who wished to practice in the province. This would ensure a uniform standard throughout the province and remove variations among different universities, he added.

He also emphasized the need for giving representation to the private sector in the PMDC. He said that practicing licenses for doctors should not be valid for a lifetime, proposing a mechanism for re-certification of medical practitioners after every 10 years, both at the primary level and for specialists.

He opposed the recent assessment and evaluation of the performance of private universities by a Sindh government body, saying they were not hotels, and added that only market forces should decide the standard and quality of any institutions, instead of announcement of their rankings from time to time.

Mr Hameed Haroon, a member of the ZMU's governing body, lamented the government's failure to meet its constitutional obligation in providing healthcare facilities to every citizen.

At a time when the government had failed, some private medical educational institutions and hospitals had contributed to providing quality healthcare and education, he said, adding that such private institutions deserved an opportunity to be heard in forums meant for framing the health policy and regulations.

He said in order to avoid any bias in the case of private medical educational institutions, the federal government should ensure they were included in the PMDC.

The Vice Chancellor of ZMU, Shahid Aziz Siddiqui, highlighted the varsity's academic policies and programmes. He said the university had decided to have a community based partly integrated curriculum using problem based learning as a major instructional strategy.

MPhil/PhD programmes were started to attract medical graduates towards a career in the basic medical sciences, while a research-based MD/MS programme had also been developed for clinical sciences, he added.

He said the university was doing its utmost to establish a tradition of research, because it believed that varsities were known for their research and not just academic programmes. He said an initiative was being undertaken to establish the school of language therapy in collaboration with the Speech and Hearing Association of Pakistan.

He announced that the School of Pharmacy at the university would start functioning by February next and would provide quality education leading to a Pharm D degree. The first batch of Pharm D students had been selected from among the high achievers in the pre-medical group examination, he added.

Two MBBS graduates, Karim Firdous Ali and Urooj Basit were awarded with honours awards. Dr Jawed Aftab was conferred a degree of Doctor of Medicine in Nuclear Medicine, while Dr Naheed Hanif and Dr Abdul Rehman were handed over the MD degrees in cardiology. MPhil degrees were conferred on Dr Zahid Kaimkhani (Anatomy) and Dr Abdul Ahad (Physiology).

In his lecture on "Sir Ziauddin as a parliamentarian and educationists", the secretary of Ziauddin Memorial Society, Dr Viqar uddin Ahmad, a former dean of the science faculty of the University of Karachi said Dr Ziauddin's services to education in general and to the Aligarh Muslim University in particular were highly commendable.

Dr Ziauddin paid great attention to improving the financial position of the varsity, so that new programmes of technical and vocational education, he added. Talking about Dr Zia's contribution to the political arena, Dr Viqar said he (Zia) had attended the historical meeting in Dhaka in 1906, where the foundation of Muslim League was laid.