President Alvi for improving the quality of medical education

ISLAMABAD, Mar 13 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi has underscored the need for improving the quality of medical education as well as introducing uniform syllabi to establish an education standard in the field of medicine. He added that medical institutions needed to produce more nursing and para-medical staff to cater to the health needs of the country.

President Dr. Arif Alvi made these remarks while chairing the 5th meeting of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad (SZABMU) Senate, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad on Monday. Vice-Chancellor of SZABMU, Professor Dr. Tanwir Khaliq, members of the Senate and faculty attended the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, the President emphasized the need for developing partnerships with foreign universities to get access to foreign courses and educational content through online education. He said that establishing partnerships and linkages with foreign universities was the fastest way to improve the quality of education in the country.

President Dr. Arif Alvi also called for focusing on the prevention of diseases that was far easier and cheaper as compared to curative treatment and would also help reduce the disease burden on the country’s health infrastructure. He said that SZABMU should be an exemplary institution and role model for others in the medical sector, adding that medical institutions should also focus on inculcating the spirit of serving humanity among their graduates.

During the meeting, the Vice-Chancellor of SZABMU briefed about the initiatives taken by the university for promoting medical education. Professor Dr Rizwan Taj informed the meeting that measures were being taken to increase the number of nurses in the country.  The meeting endorsed the minutes of the 4th Senate meeting held on 18 March 2022. The meeting also approved the appointment of two Deans, Prof Dr Rana Imran Sikandar and Prof Dr Moosa Khan, as members of the syndicate under the SZABMU Act 2013.

Meanwhile President Dr. Arif Alvi on Monday said Bhagchand Meghwar, belonging to the country’s Tharparkar who won the first prize at Huawei’s Global ICT Competition, was an inspiration for the youth.

“He is an inspiration for the Pakistani youth and affirms my view that ICT (information and communication technology) is the fastest, easiest, and shortest path to Pakistan’s socio-economic development and youth empowerment,” the president said in a tweet.

President Alvi lauded the hard work and persistence of Bhagchand and said, “It shows that Pakistani youth can do wonders if given the opportunity and guidance.”

He stressed the need to invest more in ICT and the intellectual development of youth in the country.