KARACHI: The Sindh government is planning to set up regulatory bodies for medical education in coming months — a step in accordance with the spirit of the 18th amendment — and if there are any concerns regarding the process, they will be taken up in the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

This was stated by chairman of the Provincial Higher Education Commission and Chancellor of the Ziauddin Medical University (ZMU), Dr Asim Hussain, while speaking to the media at the 11th convocation of the ZMU held at Expo Centre on Saturday.

The provinces, he said, had all constitutional rights to set up bodies to regulate education (for instance councils for nursing, medical education and pharmacy) and there would be no discussion over this with the federal government as the right forum to take up such matters was the CCI.

“Devolution of regulatory bodies is a need of the hour given the fact that the number of educational institutions have grown tremendously. Abroad, federal and provincial bodies work in collaboration and the same is to be introduced here. The responsibilities of a central body should only be limited to provision of funds, opening up of new colleges and unified curricula,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said that there was no legal obstacle to the provincial HEC, though the government had yet to make rules and the entire structure for the commission to operate.

He also announced that another campus of the university would be set up in Islamabad and a 200-bed hospital in Malir. Land for both projects had been acquired and construction for the hospital would soon start, he said, adding that there were also plans to carry out legislation to regulate ambulance service.

Earlier at the convocation, 350 students were awarded degrees in different disciplines; they included graduates of MBBS (94), Pharm-D (66), dentistry (21), nursing (23), physical therapy (76), allied health sciences, medical technology (32), bio-medical engineering (14) and speech language therapy (3). A total of 10 candidates also received diploma certificates and three were conferred upon degrees of master of philosophy.

Medals of best graduates were awarded to Dr Wafa Hassan (MBBS), Dr Anum Sheikh (Pharm-D), Dr Saeedullah Shah (dentistry), Kanwal Fatima (nursing), Sumeet Kumar (physical therapy), Nazia Ejaz (biomedical engineering) and Rohma Nadeem Akhtar (speech language therapy).

Giving a keynote speech at the event, Dr Farhat Moazzam, founding chairperson of the Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture, paid tributes to late Dr Ziauddin Ahmed, vice chancellor and rector of the Aligarh Muslim University, and said that he wasn’t only an academician but also a philosopher, a teacher and a logician.

“He was a close companion of Mr Jinnah and played a key role in the Pakistan movement. Although he had most of his education in Europe, he returned, lived through difficult times and fought endless battles for his people,” she said while urging graduate students to follow in his footsteps.

“You would also face difficulties as he did but if you emulate some of his virtues, you can also make a difference. His refusal to back down from what he considered right, his willingness to help others and a strong sense of responsibility towards people, all made him an extraordinary man,” she said.

Motivating young students to perform their duties to the best of their abilities, she said: “Your skills are important but they constitute only half of what a doctor in its true sense is, the second half is the humane attitude with which you deal with a patient. Human intellect doesn’t supersede a true heart [translation of a verse of Allama Iqbal].”

Highlighting the university’s services, Vice Chancellor of ZMU Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui said that so far the university had produced 14 batches of 910 MBBS students, five batches of 240 Pharm-D students, 10 batches of 311 physiotherapists, 14 batches of 416 medical technologists, three batches of 48 nursing students, three batches of 11 speech language and hearing sciences students, one batch of 21 BDS (dental) students and one batch of 14 biomedical engineers.