He was speaking at the convocation of Baqai Medical University here on Monday. Expressed his disappointment over the lack of adequate funds for education, health and other social sectors, he emphasized the needed for more investment in the human resource development but without any greed on the part of the investors.
Governor of Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad and Chancellor of the university, Prof F. U. Baqai were present on the occasion.
President Musharraf also expressed deep concern over the low level of scientific knowledge in the Muslim countries and said that he would raise the issue in the upcoming meeting of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in Kualalumpur. He said that he would try to convince the organization to concentrate on meaningful development of science and technology as the Ummah was lagging behind in this field.
Referring to his letters, addressed to various heads of states and governments, the president said that he had drawn their attention to this serious problem and called for the setting up of a fund for the purpose. He said that the money contributed to the fund would be spent on establishing centres of excellence in different Islamic countries.
“I have written to the OIC chairman to include this proposal in the agenda of the next OIC summit in Kualalumpur, which I will attend , and try to impress upon the member countries to focus on education through a much bigger funding portfolio,” said the president.
He also made mentioned of the visit by Dr Ataur Rahman as his special envoy to various Muslim countries to muster support for the proposal.
Regretting apathy demonstrated by the Muslim countries towards education, the president noted that in the entire Muslim world, there were only 500 universities which appeared just half of those in Japan alone.
President Musharraf pointed out that a small European country having no resources had a GDP of more than US$ 200 billion whereas major Islamic countries with all the natural resources, had the GDPs of US$60 to 100 billion. He further said that the maximum GDP figure in the Ummah was US$175 billion (Turkey) whereas Pakistan’s GDP stood at US$65 billion despite a population of 140 million and availability of all natural resources available. He urged the people to find a reason of this wide gap.
He said that during his tenure, allocations for education were increased from a total of Rs170 million to Rs6 billion. He acknowledged the role of private sector in helping the government achieve this target and said that it was not possible for the government alone to provide all the facilities.
The president called upon the graduating doctors to serve their ailing countrymen in the rural and backward areas and held out the assurance that all possible assistance would be provided to those who came forward by themselves to fulfil the responsibility of serving the teeming millions in the far-flung areas where healthcare facilities were badly needed.
He regretted that some doctors used to prescribe costly medicine to the poor even though, in some cases, the same were not required at all.
The president conferred degrees and gold medals to the brilliant students for their outstanding performance in various disciplines.
Earlier, Lt-Gen (r) Syed Azhar Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of the university, in his welcome address highlighted the current and future plans aimed at enhancing the level of medical education in the country.