KARACHI, Dec 4: The Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical College (SBBMC) in Lyari will start functioning in Jan 2011 and in this regard the college administration has taken all necessary steps with regard to educational facilities.
This was stated by principal of the college Professor Iqbal Memon while talking to Dawn .
Mr Memon said that he had sent summaries pertaining to the appointment of faculty heads for the approval of the authorities concerned.He expressed the hope that he would receive a positive response, adding that then things would move in the right direction.
After the due approval of faculty heads, he said, the admissions policy of the college would be announced. He was confident that the process would take a month.
The principal said that he had made necessary arrangements for the conduct of classes, adding that he could not see any hindrance in this regard.
The SBBMC was formally launched by President Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi on Jan 28 at the Chief Minister's House.
The process of admissions was due to start in February, but it was delayed because of bureaucratic red tape.
The college was described as a “gift for Lyariites” by President Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP co-chairperson, in recognition of their great sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in the country and their decades-long struggle against dictators to propel the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in power.
The establishment of the college was supposed to be completed on a top priority basis as the infrastructure required for a medical college was available within the Lyari General Hospital (LGH).
Since the project was fully supported by President Zardari, arrangements were made swiftly to accommodate the first batch of students in the Ayaz Sammo Nursing School, which was established in the vicinity of LGH in 1989 and inaugurated by the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
A sum of Rs50 million had been spent on the rehabilitation of the LGH building to ensure proper education, training and health facilities for a large number of stakeholders.
There was also a suggestion that the hospital, the medical college and the nursing institute should be integrated in a manner that the whole institution takes the shape of a medical complex.
The facilities and services should be upgraded to the extent that the institution could become a university and be named after Benazir Bhutto.
According to the college principal, the planning and initial phase of the construction was over. And the applications for enrolment of the first batch would be called with the announcement of the admissions policy.