College of Family Medicine Pakistan organized a Certificate Distribution Ceremony of Diabetes Course for Family Physicians at the IBA City Campus recently. The event was well attended by prominent academia, course participants and members of the College. The Chief Guest of the occasion was Prof. Abdul Samad Shera. Prof. Zaman Shaikh and Prof. Riaz Qureshi were the Guests of honor.
Secretary General of Diabetic Association of Pakistan and the Chief Guest of the occasion, Prof. Samad Shera in his address remarked that he was very impressed by the discipline and punctuality of family physicians during the proceedings of this course. He stressed upon the need of proper education and training of family physicians and to increase the level of awareness of general public about diabetes. He said that 14thNovember is selected as “World Diabetic Day” throughout the world to celebrate the birthday of Fredrick Banting, who introduced insulin in 1922 and as result he and his team were awarded with noble prize. He highlighted upon the challenges of 21st century, saying that diabetes is one of the most sharply rising prevalent disease worldwide. The major cause of diabetes is central obesity and we should fight it to prevent diabetes. Burgers and junk foods are like weapons of mass destruction. He further quotes, “water is the only drink for the wise men and women”.
On this auspicious event, Director of Sir Syed Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology and Professor of Medicine, guest of honor and course director, Prof. Zaman Shaikh, said that according to a recent WHO global survey, there are 371 million people living with this disease and 280 million are at a higher risk of developing it. Currently, diabetes prevalence is also alarmingly high in Pakistan as number of patients has surged to 20 million mainly over a period of few years due to mental stress, self-carelessness and ignorance of prevention among the masses. If this disease continuous to grow in the same manner, then by 2030 Pakistan would be ranked amongst the top 10 counties for Diabetes Mellitus. Prof Zaman Shaikh stressed upon the need of similar certificate courses for family physicians in different areas of Medicine, especially for the diseases which are prevalent in our country. He said that every family physician should remain at par with the new developments and inventions in the field of medicine. He said that every junior doctor cannot get fellowship or equivalent degrees due to various reasons, so these one to two year intensive certificate courses and diplomas are the need of the day. He informed extension of current diabetes course from six months to one year and this will include endocrinology as well, particularly thyroid disorders and bone mineral metabolic disease like vitamin D deficiency, misuse of vitamin D and brittle bone disease (osteoporosis). College of Family Medicine Pakistan formally launched its research cell activities on this event. The College shall be training and supporting its members all over the country to conduct ethical research. “The College of Family Medicine Pakistan” realizes that there is a dearth of data at the primary care level”, stated Dr. Shehla Naseem. “There is no one better than the family physicians to lead research in primary care. Accurate research and data collection would eventually lead to improvements in clinical practice, across the country,” she said. The research cell activities comprise of an IRB (Institutional Review Board) and a research training component. The College would be be running training courses for the doctors. The members of the Institutional review Board are highly qualified professionals also having research certification were formally introduced on this occasion. An Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an independent committee established to protect the rights and welfare of human research participants. Any ethical research must be reviewed and approved by an IRB. Prof. Riaz Qureshi has accepted to be the chair of CFMP- IRB. The IRB members have expertise in a variety of areas including clinical research, family medicine, internal medicine, public health, molecular biology, pharmacology and social work.
Dr. Altaf Hussain Khatri, the treasurer & financial director of the college introduced the elected board of directors. Dr.Mohammad Ameen Kharadi, the Vice Chairman of the College presented the vote of thanks. He praised the efforts of the CFMP Board of Directors and office staff who worked hard. The discipline and poise of the attending audience was highly appreciated.
