The University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore has decided to incorporate a subject of Research in its undergraduate programs, including MBBS.
It will add research components in the third and fourth year syllabi of the MBBS degree, with a mandatory research question in the third year examination.
The UHS has also opened its laboratories for the students of its affiliated medical and dental colleges to work on research projects in a bid to foster a culture of research at the undergraduate level. It will also devise a four-year detailed plan for research in biomedical and clinical fields.
Vice-Chancellor (VC) UHS, Professor Ahsan Waheed Rathore, has instructed all the associated institutions to submit their research data within a week for the formulation of the plan. He presided over a meeting of the principals of the affiliated colleges on Monday and said that a Research and Development (R&D) Center has been set up to coordinate their research efforts.
The meeting was attended by the Pro-VC UHS, Prof. Maroof Aziz, VC Nishtar Medical University (NMU), Prof. Al-Farid Zafar, Prof. Majeed Chaudhry, Prof. Ayesha Shaukat, Director Medical Education, Dr. Khalid Rahim, and representatives of 46 other institutions, including 15 principals who joined via video link.
Moreover, VC Rathore also announced the constitution of an eight-member advisory committee to supervise the R&D Center. The members of the committee include HEC-distinguished Professor (Biotechnology), Prof. Kauser Abdullah Malik, VC Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU), Prof. Muhammad Umar, former VC Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU), Prof. Amer Zaman Khan, and former Head of Department (HoD) Pediatrics Gastroenterology at Children’s Hospital, Prof. Huma Arshad Cheema.
The other members of the committee are the Chairman of the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Prof. Shahid Mahmood Baig, Leader Influenza Virus Group of Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom (UK), Prof. Munir Iqbal, Associate Director of R&D at the University of London (UoL), Dr. Isaac John, and Director R&D Centre, Prof. Saqib Mahmood.
Professor Rathore suggested that the institution and its associated colleges may produce between 700 and 800 research publications every year, and added that all the UHS’s laboratories will be merged to develop a biological and clinical research center of excellence, which will allow the research to go from paper to practice.
He also spoke about the ongoing reforms in the examination system and instructed the colleges to act on the students’ feedback about the faculty.
