530 graduates awarded degrees at second JSMU convocation

A total of 530 graduates in medical and allied health sciences and business management were awarded degrees at the second convocation of Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) held at a local hotel on Monday.

Fifteen students also received gold medals for their extraordinary performance in academics. The medallists included first three MBBS position holders as well as those who performed extraordinary in honours in public health, basic medical sciences, obstetrics and gynecology, paediatrics, surgery, medicine, ENT, business management and ophthalmology.

Sehrish Khan clinched the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Gold Medal for Honours in Pharm D while the gold medal for the best graduate was awarded to Syed Roshaan Ali Naqvi.

The award for the best teacher was conferred upon Dr Syed Tafazzul Hussain Zaidi.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, who is also the varsity’s chancellor by virtue of his post, and Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had been invited to attend the convocation and award gold medals and degrees to the graduates but neither of them managed to attend the ceremony.

Sindh Mines and Minerals Minister Mir Shabbir Ali Bijarani addressed the convocation as the chief guest. The Sindh government was striving for creation of a knowledge-based society, he said, adding that the government also aimed at creating opportunities for thousands of uneducated youth so that they could join the workforce.

The minister lauded the JSMU for offering courses in allied health sciences alongside MBBS in order to reduce the shortage of qualified healthcare staff in the country. He also acknowledged the varsity’s services in the Nagarparkar and Diplo areas in the underdeveloped Thar region.

Bijarani maintained that the Sindh government placed special emphasis on health, education and development as these elements formed

the very crux of a productive society.

“Health is the ground for all economic and social activities. A healthy individual is an asset for his or her country. Without health, a person’s capability to contribute to society is diminished or finished,” Bijarani said, adding that if the health issues of individuals are left untreated, they soon turn into a national crisis.

Founding JSMU Vice-Chancellor Professor SM Tariq Rafi mentioned achievements of the varsity in his address. He added that lack of space to expand had emerged as the biggest challenge for the Sindh’s largest and Pakistan’s second largest medical varsity.

“The new institutes and programmes require classrooms, training facilities and administrative offices. Sindh government has allotted us 20 acres of land in the Education City which is a project for the future,” the VC said. He urged the provincial government to give the JSMU a larger piece of land keeping in view the size of its already functioning institutes and the strength of its students.

Prof Rafi asked the government to consider allotting the varsity space in the Hawke’s Bay Scheme for immediate expansion. “I also humbly request you to transfer the building of the government medical college in Korangi to JSMU so a boys’ medical college can be started,” he said.

The VC also requested the government to allow public sector universities to hire qualified personnel above 60 years of age in areas where qualified younger people were not available. The private sector is allowed to benefit from the skills and experiences of qualified individuals up to the age of 70 years, he said.

Prof Rafi also announced instituting a medal of honour in memory of Benazir Bhutto to be annually given to the best graduate in Pharm D and opening of three new institutes in the coming year which would offer courses in family medicine, nursing and physiotherapy.