Lahore: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) is launching two innovative training programmes for general practitioners from this year in a bid to strengthen family medicine as an institution in Pakistan.
The 2-year diploma and 4-year Doctor of Medicine (MD) programmes in family medicine shall be offered at UHS affiliated medical colleges with an aim to uplift the standard of primary healthcare in Punjab.
The programmes were approved in the 63rd meeting of UHS Advanced Studies and Research Board held here on Thursday with Vice Chancellor Prof. Malik H. Mubbashar in the chair.
Highlighting the importance of these programmes, former dean of postgraduate medical education of Cambridge University, Prof. Johan SG Biggs said that family physicians were an integral part of primary care and, therefore, most of the developed countries provided opportunities for professional development to primary care physicians.
The members of the board were told that there were more than 120,000 registered family physicians in Pakistan who were not being trained formally in family medicine.
“Currently, there are two fellowship programmes which produce six or seven graduates every year; five membership and two diploma programmes which are not accepted for professional growth by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC); and three MD programmes which are virtually non-functional due to lack of faculty” Prof. Biggs informed adding that PMDC allowed any MBBS doctor to start independent general practice without any requirement for training.
He said that the situation demanded a two prong approach to train fresh graduate and also to impart flexible training to those who were already practising. He added that UHS, being the leading medical university, initiated the work in this regard in collaboration with its affiliated institutes and a group of 25 qualified physicians.
UHS professor of medical education, Prof. Junaid S. Khan informed that the programme documents were finalized after a series of workshops, by a steering committee, under the chairmanship of Prof. Biggs. The programmes were according to the standards of Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, he said adding that half of the training would be hospital based and half in primary care settings.
Prof. Junaid further said that candidates with MBBS degrees and one year house job experience would be eligible for admission. In hospital rotations, the consultants would be supervising the trainees and in primary care setting, qualified and trained family physicians would supervise trainees in their clinics. The clinics of faculty members would be evaluated and upgraded in order to provide best learning environment, he maintained.
The members of the board were further apprised that for diploma programme the family physicians with more than 10 years of experience in general practice would be exempted from rotational training. They would be allowed to apply directly for final examination based on their experience.
According to the programme document, trainees will be receiving training individually during various training posts but once a month, all the trainees of different institutions of the region will gather for joint educational sessions such as workshops, case presentation, etc.
All the training rotations will be assessed at the end of rotation and feedback will be given to trainees in order to improve their performance. All the trainees will also be required to complete a log book of the cases seen during rotations. Case based discussions, multi-source feedback and mini clinical evaluation exercises will be conducted during the programmes as part of workplace based assessment.
The board appreciated the initiative taken by UHS and unanimously approved the pgorammes to be launched from current academic session.
The board also considered the thesis reports of Dr. Muhammad Arshad Iqbal Gardezi, M.Phil (Chemical Pathology), Dr. Malik Shahid Shoukat, M.Phil (Community Medicine) and Dr. Mamoona Nasim for PhD (Anatomy).
The panel of examiners were constituted for evaluation of thesis submitted by Dr. Inayat Hussain Anjum, M.S. (General Surgery), Sobia Rana, PhD (Cellular and Molecular Biology) and Dr. Junaid Sarfraz Khan, PhD (Medical Education).
The board also considered the following synopses for registration to various postgraduate programmes: “Protective effect of Saccharum officinarum L. juice on isoniazid induced hepatotoxicity in male albino mice” by Dr. Sadia Wazir Khan for M.Phil (Anatomy), “Factor V Leiden mutation in patients of venous thromboembolism” by Dr. Anjum Saeed for M.Phil (Haematology), “Thiopurine S-Methyltransferase gene polymorphism in Pakistani patients of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and its effect on acute toxicity of 6 – mercaptopurine during maintenance therapy” by Dr. Ayesha Tajammal for M.Phil (Pharmacology), “Effect of α1 antagonist and β2 agonist on acetaminophen induced hepatotoxicity in BALB /c mice” by Dr. Samra Sulaiman for M.Phil (Pharmacology), “Endometriosis and its association with TP53 gene (condon 72) polymorphism in Lahore” by Dr. Rizwana Hussain for M.Phil (Physiology), “Serum vitamin D level and its relation with the metabolic syndrome in adult non-diabetic offspring of type 2 diabetic patients” by Dr. Mudassar Ali Roomi for M.Phil (Physiology), “Serum vitamin D level and its relation with the metabolic syndrome in adult non-diabetic offspring of type 2 diabetic patients” by Dr. Mudassar Ali Roomi for M.Phil (Physiology), “Assoication between hyperuricemia and coronary artery disease” by Dr. Raja Jawad Ayub Khan for M.D. (Medicine), “The role of early decompressive craniotomy versus conservative management in traumatic brain injury” by Dr. Yaseruddin Hoti for M.S. (Neurosurgery), “Open reduction and internal fixation of metacarpal fractures: mini-plate versus k-wire” by Dr. Muhammad Ali for M.S. (Orthopaedics) and “Efficacy of reverse flow sural artery flap in coverage of soft tissue defects in the lower 1/3rd of leg and heel” by Dr. Ahmad Ali for M.S. (Plastic Surgery).
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