74 nurses, 79 doctors graduate
KARACHI: A school of finance should be set up at the Aga Khan University Hospital’s new faculty of Arts and Sciences, said State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Shamshad Akhter as the chief guest of the 20th convocation for 79 doctors and 74 nurses.
The chairman of the AKU board of trustees, Saidullah Khan Dehlavi, conferred the bachelor and post-graduate degrees to graduates registered with the MBBS, Nursing and Teachers Training programmes.
The 79 young doctors hail from different parts of the country including Malakand Agency, Abbotabad, Kohat, Jaranwala, Hyderabad, Gujrat, Thatta, Bahawal Nagar, Swat, Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Rahimyar Khan and also from Malaysia.
This summer, the Aga Khan announced the founding of a new Faculty of Arts and Sciences in Arusha, Tanzania along with a second Faculty of Health Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya. This comes on the heels of the establishment of a Faculty of Arts and Sciences campus here in Pakistan, the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations in London, and another the Institute for Educational Development in Dar-es-Salaam. AKUH also continue to provide technical assistance in Afghanistan in nursing and to the French Medical Institute for Children in Kabul as well as for nursing education programmes in Syria and Egypt.
Dr Akhtar mentioned that the Aga Khan Foundation recently acquired the second largest bank of the country i.e. Habib Bank Ltd. The AKUH annually serves 500,000 patients and annually produces 277 graduates. It delivers services to poor and middle-income groups – over Rs 1.6 billion has been disbursed to 300,000 needy patients since its inception.
Dr Akhter praised AKU for receiving five major research grants for its Pediatric Department, totaling US$7.8 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization programme amongst others.
Dr Akhtar said that according to the Medium-Term Development Framework 2005-2010, the country was facing an estimated shortage of 30,000 doctors. “Presently 117,973 doctors are registered with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and 24,000 nurses with the Pakistan Nursing Council,” she said. “The current output of medical graduates both in public and private medical colleges is around 5,000 per year and almost 5,000 nurses and midwives are awarded the three-year diploma annually.”
Professor Camer Vellani was awarded the “Distinguished University Professor Award” and the “Award of Distinction” went to Professor Richard Pring. Dr. Hammad Durrani and Dr. Farina Abrejo received the “Distinction in Thesis Award” and Shehnaz Shamsuddin Gillani the “Best Performance in Professional Licensure Examination Award”. The “Award for Nursing Practice” went to Asmita Amir Ali Maknojia, “Award for General Proficiency” to Femida Gillani, “Distinction in Dissertation Awards to Anthony Maina Gioko, Josephine Ahinyi Nyangaga, Mahi Parveen, Shabnam Sohail Khan, and the “Distinction in Course Work Award” to Shairose Irfan Jessani. app/ppi
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