KARACHI, Oct 11: Over 800 graduates of four batches of the Dow Medical College (DMC) were conferred MBBS degrees at a convocation held on Saturday.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan was the chief guest, who also gave away about 65 gold medals and best graduates awards to about 34 students, who got distinction in the University of Karachi, MBBS examinations, held in the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The governor, asking the medical graduates to spare a thought for their motherland, which provided them with the opportunity of getting education on merit, and thus enabled them to compete world over, hoped that wherever the graduates would go, they would make their mark and use their knowledge in the service of their country, as well as the mankind.

He lauded the DMC for providing leadership in patient-care for the most part of the last century in the country, particularly in the province. He also appreciated the efforts made by the college and its teaching hospitals to upgrade and renovate the institutes.

Mentioning the long-standing demand in regard to upgradation of college’s status to that of a varsity, Dr Ibad, who himself graduated from the DMC in 1998, informed the audience that he had formally approved varsity status for the college.

In addition to announcing a cash award of Rs10,000 each for every gold medalist, the governor also invited the graduates attending the convocation to a tea party, which would be held in their honour soon.

In his convocation address, DMC Principal Dr Tipu Sultan said that the passing-out graduates stood on the threshold of new challenges and old fears. Addressing the graduates, he said: “...you must always remember that fate has chosen you to be a healer of pain and a giver of joy, hope and health.”

Referring to development of departments and training facilities at the college, he said that today the DMC faculty was complete with all branches of medical science in practice in over 43 departments. He said that the college had established a separate section for ex-graduates of DMC to liaison and speed up their referrals.

A visiting faculty of Dow graduates and professionals from all over the world would be set up soon to invite them to the country and benefit from their know-how, which would be an attempt to reverse the brain drain, he mentioned.

The convocation was held at KU’s Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre, where a group of varsity students also staged a demonstration, expressing concern over the administrative decision to close the centre for its students, in the wake of convocation.

The lack of coordination among the organizers and rehearsal on the part of the graduates was badly felt at the convocation, which culminated during the group photo session of graduates with the chief guest as it could not be completed as per plan.

Some of the graduates also complained about the quality of gold medals, while at least four of the medals awarded to students were dropped and lost on the occasion.

Talking to newsmen, a DMC teacher said that mismanagement could hardly be averted when dealing with such a large number of excited and enthusiastic students and their parents, hoping that the things would be straightened out in the next convocation.

Talking to Dawn, the DMC principal said that the governor had signed the ordinance pertaining to upgradation of the medical college, which would be placed before the assembly for enactment as well. He said that the Health department would have nothing to do with the college, while there were plans to develop the Dow Medical university as a fully autonomous body, in line with the University of Karachi.

The issuance of notification with regard to upgradation of the college was still awaited, while matters pertaining to financing of the new varsity, appointment of vice-chancellors and pro-vice chancellors, were still to be finalized at a proper forum.

The KU Vice-Chancellor Dr Zafar Saied Saify, who conferred the degrees to graduates at the convocation, told Dawn that he had been consulted regarding the establishment of the proposed medical university and he did not find any breach of jurisdiction of the KU.

He said that after his inclusion in the new varsity’s board of governors, as he had been informed, the KU would continue to cooperatewith the medical varsity in research and other fields.

A total of 100 students from Batch 2000, 162 from 2001 batch, 241 from 2002 batch and 302 from 2003 batch, attended the convocation and were conferred upon degrees. The best Dow graduate awards went to Tariq Mahmood (2000 batch), Syed Arsalan Raza (2001), M Faisal Wadiwala (2002) and Mehjabeen Moin (2003).

The graduates awarded gold medals for their merit positions in examinations and securing distinctions in different subjects are:

Batch 2000; Tariq Mahmood, Syed Saqib Islam, Amena Noorani, Samina Zakiuddin, Diamond Shaukat Ali, Ambreen Khan, Sobia Zakiuddin, Maliha Javed, Farah Malik, Fouzia Rasheed, Jamal Sajid, Saima Naz and Iqbal Masood.

Batch 2001; Syed Arsalan Raza, Syed Saqib Imran, Ayesha Syed Ahmed, Muhammad Adnan Aziz, Hajra Ismail Tilly, Maryam Farooq, Benazir Ansari, Nafeesa Sadruddin and Alya Bano.

Batch 2002; Faisal Wadiwala, Henna Zaheer, Saira Nazeer, Ahmed Kadir, Imran Ahmad Sethi, M Shahzad Shamim, Farheen Rasheed Baig, Waqas Shafiq, Erum Anwar and Imran Ahmed.

Batch 2003; Mehjabeen Moeen, Nabeel Ahmed Sheikh, Shabnam, Sara Khursheed, Fareha Ehsan, Qurat-ul-Ain Shaikh, Nadia Hafeez, Shahzad Raza, Najia Amato Rabbeha Lodhi, Zaka-ur-Rab Siddiqui, Farheen Qureshi, Adnan Haider, Sara Zaidi and Fizza Iqbal.

Of the 46 medal recipients, 31 were present at the convocation, while mothers of three graduates received medals on behalf of their wards. A total of 12 graduates did not register themselves for the convocation and as such their awards could not be given away, said a college source.