CPSP Council gets new VP

Islamabad: Professor Aisha Siddiqa, a gynaecologist from Quetta, has been elected the second woman vice-president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) Council for the 2023-27 term.

Professor Rakhshinda Rehman of Lahore was the first woman to hold the office after the college’s establishment in 1962 through an act of parliament to promote specialist medical practice through courses, training, and research.

Professor Aisha secured 3,527 votes from across the country, including 160 from her native province Balochistan, in the CPSP Council elections on March 18.

She graduated from the Bolan Medical College Quetta in 1987 and received a gold medal for being the best graduate. She also won the Quaid-e-Azam Merit Scholarship from the Higher Education Commission Islamabad for higher studies in the UK, where she obtained a Master’s degree in Gynecological Oncology from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and FCPS in OBGYN in 1996.

Professor Aisha served as a professor and the head of the OBGYN Department at the Bolan Medical College, a faculty member of the CPSP from 2011 to 2014, and a councillor and chief regional director of CPSP Balochistan from 2019 to 2023.

She has received several national and international awards, including the Presidential Pride of Performance Award, and is an active member of various national and international medical societies, including FIGO, AOFOG, and SAFOG. Prof. Aisha played a crucial role in the establishment of an intensive care unit in the Sandeman Provincial Teaching Hospital, Quetta, and organised several national conferences for obstetricians and gynecologists of Pakistan, even during periods of critical law and order situations.