Dow University of Health Sciences organized a 2-day National Conference on Building Bridges for Medical Education Reforms at DIMC Building Ojha Campus. The aim of the conference is to gather the principals and Medical Education Faculty of all medical colleges of Pakistan, both public and private sector so that they share their work, their policies, the challenges, and get a chance to benefit from the presence of officials from organizations like PMDC and HEC. More than sixty principals and deans of the country alongwith a large number of medical educationists participated in the conference.
At the inaugural session, Dean Faculty of Medicine-DUHS, Prof. Salahuddin Afsar, in his welcome address briefed the participants about the objective of the conference.
He informed that this conference will provide as a platform to exchange ideas and knowledge to enhance our professional growth so that we can produce the best medical graduates in the world.
Vice Chancellor-DUHS, Prof. Masood Hameed Khan sharing his views informed that DUHS takes pride in being an institute with an excellence in health sciences. The vision and mission of DUHS is focused on three domains that include academic excellence, human resource development and community healthcare. He informed that DUHS is one of the few institutions which have adopted the latest curriculum in medical education.
Chief Guest-Prof. Syed Sibit Ul Hasnain, President-Pakistan Medical & Dental Council in his address stressed on teaching and training of students so as to enable them to cope with the demands of healthcare in the future by improving the curriculum of undergraduates medical education. He said that starting with only three institutes in January 2004, the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) has established 30 institutes in the short span of seven years.
Others who spoke on current Innovative curricular implemented in their respective medical college were Dr. Syed Moyn Ali, Visiting Faculty of Medical Education-DUHS, Director Medical Education, College of Medical & Medical Sciences, Taif University, Saudi Arabia; Prof. Rukhsana Zuberi, Prof. of Family Medicine Associate Dean, Education Chair, Department of Educational Development, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aga Khan Univeristy; Prof. Rashid Ahmed, Chair of Currciculum Com-AKU, Prof. Kamran Hamed, Dean-Ziauddin Universtiy; Prof. Tara Jaffery, Associate Professor of Medicine, Shifa International.
Later on, the Conference was followed by Plenary Session in which, Dr. Syed Moyn Aly spoke on Orga-nization and Sequencing of Contents of the Curri- culum; Dr. Shams Nadeem Alam,Professor of Surgery and Dean, Dow International Medical College (DIMC) spoke on Teaching & Learning Strategies for Effective Delivery of Curriculum; Dr. Zarrin Siddiqui of AKU spoke on Assessment tools for a modern curriculum and Dr. Wahid Usmani, Director, Quality Enhancement Cell-DUHS spoke on Evaluation & Quality Assu-rance in Curriculum Development.
The concluding session on the second day of the Conference was followed by deliberations, panel discussion and final recommendations which emphasized on the need to develop task force for curricular reforming, urging different societies come forward and teach the student in their respective specialty; objective based learning and on job training of latest practical skills of teachers and faculty. Jalesi appreciated the efforts of Prof. Masood Hameed Khan in bringing up the University at par with the top Universities of the world in a short span of seven years. He also offered for the progress of the University.
The Conference concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Salahuddin Afsar and shields and certificates distribution amongst the participants.