Pakistan moving ahead in rehabilitation sciences

International Rehabilitation Conference concludes

Islamabad: Pakistan is moving ahead in rehabilitation sciences while knowledge oriented environment is being provided to upcoming rehabilitation professionals in the country, this was stated by leading international rehabilitation experts while addressing Pakistan’s third International Rehabilitation Conference which was concluded by marking huge success here at a hotel here on Sunday.

Third two-day International Rehabilitation Conference was jointly organised by Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences (IIRS) featuring national and international rehabilitation experts participating in different panel discussions, interactive plenary sessions, oral and poster presentations. Many international experts including Fary Khan, Mary Galea, Lauren Fletcher, Bronwyn Miller, Marlena Klaic representing The University of Melbourne Australia, Nam Jong Paik from Seoul National University, South Korea and others. 

While addressing, at the closing ceremony of the conference, speaker of Baluchistan Provincial Assembly Raheela Durrani lauded the organisers for providing the local professionals a unique opportunity of interacting with world’s leading expert. She said that modern medical science has brought major positive changes in concepts of medical treatment. “We have to equip our medical and rehabilitation experts with modern knowledge and training so that they can provide best treatment to their patients,” she said.

While addressing on this occasion, Chairman of International Rehabilitation Conference and IIRS Principal Dr Naveed Babur said that empowering local professionals through advancements in rehabilitation sciences is the key purpose of these conferences. On this occasion, special awards and certificates were given to the key participants.

Last day of the conference featured various activities including plenary sessions, oral and poster presentations. Australian expert Lauren Fletcher discussed the concept of Speech Pathology in the context of Neurorehabilitation while her colleague Mary Galea shed the light on Advancement in Neuroplasticity.

IIRS Principal Dr Naveed Babur expressed his views on “Exploring Inter Professional Collaboration Among Rehabilitation Professionals.” Some poster presentations were also part of last day activities while the participants of poster presentation included Jawad Hashim, Hina Noor, Maryam Shabbir, Saima Aslam and Faseeha Shafqat. Some oral presentations were also presented on this occasion by participants including Iqra Khan, Muhammad Osama, Hafsa Faiz, Qasim Raza, Jacoline Somer, Rafia Sajid, Azeem Aslam and others.

The conference this year attracted a large number of participants including national and international rehabilitation professionals, practitioners, teachers and students. First day of the conference featured various programs including penal discussion, plenary sessions, poster presentations and different other interactive sessions which were participated by foreign and domestic experts, specialists, practitioners and students of rehabilitation sciences.

A penal discussion was held to discuss the “Challenges for Neuro Rehabilitation in Developing Countries.” The discussion was moderated by a Dubai based Rehabilitation Consultant Sabahat Asim Wasti along with other participants including Fary Khan, Mary Galea, Lauren Fletcher, Bronwyn Miller, Marlena Klaic, Nam Jong Paik, Raja Farhat, Sajida Naz and Haider Darain.

 Marking the presence of international experts, Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences (IIRS) also conducted a series of pre-congress workshops on Friday at Isra University Islamabad Campus. During the workshops, Australian rehabilitation experts including Prof Fary Khan, Prof Mary Galea and Marlena Klaic shared their professional views with the participants on ‘Advancements in Rehabilitation Research.’ A session on ‘Dry Needling & Acupuncture was facilitated by Muhammad Khan, director rehabilitation at Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. Australian Speech Pathologist Lauren Fletcher shed her views on ‘Impairment based therapies for adult Neurogenic Communication disorders’.

Different other workshop sessions were also held by the organisers in which rehabilitation specialists shared their experiences and modern advancements with the students and participants of the workshops.