PESHAWAR, Feb 8: The first-ever six-day National Thoracic Surgery Course concluded here at the regional office of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan.

The course began on Feb 3, the need for which had been felt at the Biennial International Conference of the Pakistan Society of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons (PSCTS) held in December last in Rawalpindi.

There are only three recognised Thoracic surgical units in Pakistan — the JPMC, Karachi; the CMH, Rawalpindi; and the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Peshawar.

Peshawar, being the major unit, had the maximum number of trainees as well as clinical workload, therefore, the task of organising the course was assigned to Dr Aamir Bilal, associate professor cardiothoracic unit of the LRH and the joint secretary of the PSCTS.

The course was jointly organised by the PSCTS, the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Peshawar, and Peshawar regional office of the CPSP.

Eighteen trainees, including five from the Pakistan Army, attended the course. Eight tutors, including Lt-Gen Manzoor Ahmad, Brig Sultan Muzaffar, CMH Rawalpindi; Prof Haider Zaman, Mayo Hospital, Lahore; Prof Mirza Anwar, Mayo Hospital, Lahore; Brig Asif Ali Khan, AFIC; Prof Inayat Roghani, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar; Dr Shahid Sami, Agha Khan University Hospital, Karachi; and Aamir Bilal LRH, Peshawar.

Out of six examiners for the FCPS (Thoracic), five — Brig Muzaffar, Brig Asif, Dr Shahid Sami, Dr Aamir Bilal, Prof Mirza Anwar — had consented to act as tutors and travel at their own expense as this first-ever national Thoracic course in Pakistan had no funding.