UHS affiliated colleges to have new syllabus

LAHORE: First year classes in medical and dental colleges of Punjab will commence from March 1st.

The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has decided to introduce modular integrated curriculum in its affiliated medical colleges from this year. Addressing a meeting, Vice-Chancellor Professor Ahsan Waheed Rathore said the initiative was being taken on the directives of the Pakistan Medical Commission to meet the accreditation standards of World Federation of Medical Education (WFME).

He said it would allow clinical exposure to the students’ right from their first year in medical colleges. The framework of the modular integrated curriculum was approved by a steering committee in a meeting held on Wednesday. The meeting was headed by the UHS Vice Chancellor and was attended by all lead medical educationists of the affiliated medical colleges of Punjab and Kashmir.

The medical education department of the University presented the framework of integrated curriculum along with the proposed Modules and assessment protocols were presented to the steering committee.

Prof Rathore said the varsity had decided to implement the new modular and curriculum in the coming session. The faculty in the affiliated medical colleges would be required to teach the new curriculum to the new MBBS classes that will commence in March this year, he maintained.

As against the integrated curriculum, under the current system, the students start studying clinical subjects in the third year after studying basic medical sciences for the first two years.

The UHS VC said the curriculum draft had entered the final phase of validation and theme identification and will be undertaken by taking on board the leadership of the affiliated institutes.

Prof Rathore maintained the UHS will facilitate the medical education departments of the affiliated institutes for implementation of the integrated system. Learning techniques could improve academic success and help students cope with stressors and acquiring medical knowledge was the key competency for medical students and a lifelong requirement for physicians, he said.

To support students’ learning process medical faculties should know about learning techniques, he said. The committee also finalised the TORs for the implementation of the curriculum along with a methodology of faculty development. University of Health Sciences Director Medical Education Dr. Khalid Rahim highlighted the salient features of the new proposed integrated curriculum.