KARACHI, May 29: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan on Sunday announced Rs100 million as seed money for the Dow University of Health Sciences’ (DUHS) endowment fund for carrying out different development projects.

The governor, who is also the chancellor of public sector universities of the province, also announced amidst loud applause from the gathering at the DUHS’ 2nd Convocation that a substantial raise would be made in the salaries, honorarium and stipends for all the categories of doctors, including house job doctors, medical officers, assistant professors, associate professors, professors, registrars, from the forthcoming financial year.

He was speaking as the guest of honour at an impressive ceremony of the DUHS Convocation held on its Ojha Campus for over 1,300 graduates and postgraduates of both the Dow Medical College and Sindh Medical College of 2010 and 2011 batches and the maiden batch of students who passed their BDS examination from the university’s Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences (DIKIOHS) this year.

The convocation was attended, among others, by Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed, DUHS Vice Chancellor Prof Masood Hameed Khan, Pro Vice Chancellor and Principal of the SMC and DIKIOHS Prof Muhammad Umar Farooq; DMC Principal Prof Junaid Ashraf, faculty members and fresh graduates and their parents.

Declaring that the salaries of all categories of doctors would be brought at par with the doctors’ of other provinces, the governor thanked President Asif Ali Zardari for acceding to his request concerning the raise in the doctors’ salary and for issuing directives in this regard to the Sindh chief minister for implementing the same from the financial year 2011-12.

Felicitating the fresh graduates, the governor asked them that they must honour the dignity of their oath, which they took upon their graduation by keeping the medical ethics of the noble profession always in mind.

He also urged themm to update their knowledge of modern advancement taking place around the globe and utilise them for the ailing humanity.

Earlier, he gave away medals and shield among those who topped their MBBS, BDS, Nursing and Medical Technology courses.

The governor also congratulated the graduates and postgraduates of the university.

Position-holders

The recipients of the gold medals included Aisha Rehman, Mehwish Bano and Shamia Jawed, as they bagged first, second and third positions in their MBBS-2010 exam from the DMC while Aisha Nazeer, Lubna Aman and Chaudary Faizan Ahmed got first three positions, respectively, in MBBS-2010 from SMC.

Mehwish Mehdi, Ammarah Yasmeen and Fatima clinched first, second and third positions in MBBS-2011 from DMC whereas those who topped the list in MBBS-2011 from SMC were Nadia, Shireen Pyar Ali and Hina Aslam Qureshi.

The position-holders of the BDS-2011 programme’s first batch of DIKIOHS, SM Abdullah Salman, Amyna Sajwani and Nida Hanif, were also awarded gold medals.

As soon as the graduates of both the DMC and SMC who were attired in the traditional convocation gowns were conferred degrees by the DUHS vice chancellor, they threw their hoods high in the air to celebrate the occasion.

Lauding the efforts of the entire team of the DUHS for making a rapid progress in every discipline of health sciences, the governor said that the tremendous achievement made by the university in a short span of just seven years would become a beacon light and serve as an example for other medical institutions of the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed, who is also a DMC graduate, said that the DMC, which was established in 1881 and the SMC which was set up in 1973, produced thousands of doctors who were serving the ailing humanity in the country and abroad as well.

Dr Ahmed said that since the nurse and other paramedical staff were the backbone of the healthcare system and quality healthcare could not be possible without nurses, the university already started a masters nursing programme.

At the outset, he lauded the efforts of the Sindh governor for his guidance in raising the standard of the DUHS at par with best medical institutions of the country and the region.

Earlier, in his welcome address, DUHS VC Prof Masood Hameed Khan informed the audience that the Higher Education Commission had ranked the DUHS at 13 among 138 medical institutions of the country in the last seven years.

Highlighting the development and research projects undertaken by the university in a short period of seven years, he said that it was first established in 2003 with just three constituent institutions but now had around 40 institutions and these include 500-bed Dow University Hospital at Ojha Campus, the National Institute of Liver &DI Diseases, the National Institute of Diabetic and Endocrinology, the Dow Radiology Department, Blood Bank and laboratory.

He said that vision and mission of the DUHS was focused on three domain and these include academic excellence, human resource development and community healthcare.