Ex-faculty members get lifetime achievement awards

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Medical College Alumni Association has awarded former senior faculty members of the college with lifetime achievement awards for their services to the college and its teaching hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).

Those, who received the lifetime achievement awards, included Prof Dr Nadeem Khawar, Chairman Board of Governors (BoG) Medical Teaching Institution, KTH, KMC and Khyber College of Dentistry (KCD), Prof Zafar Durrani, a noted orthopaedics surgeon and ex-head of orthopaedics department, and former principal KMC Prof Dr Ejaz Hassan Khan.

The awards were given to them at the convocation of KMC. Dr Nadeem Khawar is a paediatrician. He attended Khalid Mahmud Public School and graduated from KMC in 1981. He went to the UK for higher education and training in paediatrics in 1983 and returned home to serve his alma mater and community in 1991 and joined KTH as a senior registrar in paediatrics.

Prof Khawar retired as the head of the Paediatric Department in 2016. In the 1990s, he led the WHO community programme, Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, Pakistan Child Survival programme and Acute Respiratory Infections programme.

He introduced a structural clinical teaching programme for undergraduate students and is the pioneer of initiating TOACS in KMU MBBS exams since 2011. He held some assignments during service, including the Chief Editor of KMC “Journal of Medical Sciences” from 2003 to 2009,

anchorperson KTH Hospital weekly Grand rounds for over 20 years till his retirement, president of Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) KP1998-2000, current chairman of PPA - Infectious Disease Group at the national level, Medical Director of MTI KTH from March 2015 to September 2016, and now chairman of the Board of Governors, MTI KTH since August 2020.

The BoG under his guidance had brought some good achievements to the institution and the hospital the first public sector hospital to be ISO 9001-2015 certified. He developed a five-year strategic plan and implementation, new employees-friendly graded structure and regulations, and sub-specialities in all major fields.

Prof Dr Zafar Durrani is a member of the BoG KTH/KMC/KCD and completed his MBBS in 1981 when he joined Khyber Teaching Hospital for his house job in the department of General Surgery and General Medicine.

He left for England in 1983, where he cleared his FRCS and received his orthopaedic training at St. Georges Hospital, London, and a prestigious Teaching Hospital in London. He returned to Pakistan in 1990 and started work at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences as an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics. In 1992, he shifted to Peshawar, as an Asst Prof of Orthopaedics at Khyber Medical College with the retirement of Prof Khan Haider.

In 1994, he became in charge of the Orthopaedics Unit and continued as head for the next 22 years. During his tenure, the Orthopaedic Department at KTH was the pioneer in modern fixation techniques, both internal and external.

Prof Dr Ejaz Hassan Khan received his early education from University Public School, Peshawar, and graduated from Khyber Medical College in 1984.

He did his MPhil and PhD in chemical pathology from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. He trained in Pediatrics and Chemical Pathology at the University of Toledo, Ohio USA.

FCPS (Chemical Pathology) and FRCP by Royal College Edinburgh were conferred to him subsequently. He is a fellow college of Pathologies Pakistan and being a lifelong learner, he did a master’s in health professional education from Khyber Medical University.

He joined Khyber Medical College as Assistant Professor (Chemical Pathology) in 1991. He became a Professor in 2003 and head department of pathology in 2014.

He also remained Assistant Director of Medical Education for 12 years and was instrumental in the establishment of the medical education department. He remained the Principal of Khyber Medical College from 2013-2017.

As a principal, he established a student exchange programme with the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. He established DNA facilities in the department of forensic medicine and a plastination laboratory in the Anatomy department. He served as the principal of Northwest School of Medicine and is currently Vice-Chancellor of Gandhara University Peshawar.