KARACHI, Dec 6: The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) will set up a radio station to create awareness about various health issues and a telemedicine centre for the treatment of patients residing in far-flung areas. This was announced by the DUHS vice-chancellor, Prof Masood Hameed Khan, at the inaugural ceremony of a week-long hands-on workshop on temporal bone dissection and ear surgery course organised in collaboration with the ENT, Head and Neck Surgery department of the Civil Hospital Karachi and the Professional Development Centre (PDC), DUHS, at the university.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Khan said that in the developed world it was mandatory for doctors, interested in doing specialisation in a particular subject, to attend such workshops. However, in the third world countries like Pakistan, there were no such obligations, he said.

The vice-chancellor urged the faculty members and consultants to attend such hands-on workshops as it was a part of postgraduate training. About the future plans of the Dow varsity, Dr Khan said that a radio channel and telemedicine centre would be set up at the university, besides, the university would start a masters’ programme in basic medical sciences and a four-year BS programme at the Institute of Medical Technology.

The course director and head of the ENT, Head and Neck Surgery Department, CHK, Prof Javaid Alam, said that there was a lack of professional training and competent ENT surgeons in Pakistan due to which doctors were forced to go abroad and spend a lot of money on advanced training.

The hands-on workshop, he said, would be conducted by local master trainers who had received training from foreign experts. Through the workshop, 48 participants would be trained in cases of ear glue, ear discharge, facial paralysis, conductive deafness, congenital deafness, hear restoration, vertigo and ear drum reconstruction.

The chairman of the board of governors of CHK and the Lyari General Hospital, Abu Shamim Arif, course coordinator Dr Iqbal Khyani, CHK Medical Superintendent Dr Kaleem Butt, Prof Saleem Marfani, DMC vice-principal Dr Qazi Irshad and PDC Director Dr Saleem Ilyas were also present.