KMU 5th convocation: Governor urges medical graduates to serve humanity

PESHAWAR: Governor and Chancellor Khyber Medical University (KMU) Peshawar Shah Farman has urged fresh medical graduates to serve humanity as they were among the luckiest people being chosen for this noble cause.

He was speaking as chief guest to the 5th convocation of Khyber Medical University (KMU) on Thursday, the lone public sector medical university of the province.

In addition to the present Vice-Chancellor of the university Prof Dr Ziaul Haq, the vice-chancellor of King Edward Medical University Lahore Prof Dr Khalid Masood Gondal, former vice-chancellors of KMU Prof. Dr Muhammad Daud Khan, Prof. Dr Muhammad Hafeezullah, Prof. Dr Arshad Javed, Registrar of KMU Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Gandapur, Secretary Higher Education Department Muhammad Daud Khan, members of the KMU senate, syndicate, deans clinical, basic, health profession education allied health sciences, faculty members, admin officers, parents and a number of graduating students were present on the occasion.

“You have been chosen to serve humanity as selfless service to the suffering humanity brings peace and happiness and there is no substitute for it,” Shah Farman told the medical graduates.

Shah Farman said that the prominent position of the medical profession in society is due to the service of suffering humanity. He said that the people associated with the medical profession are considered to be entitled to double rewards.

“These people are considered as respectable in the society due to their professional competence; therefore the spiritual peace they get through the service of suffering humanity invaluable,” he said.

He praised the performance of the KMU, especially the financial discipline, and hoped that the management would further focus on quality while increasing the number of new institutions.

He, however, asked vice-chancellor KMU Dr Ziaul Haq to focus on the quality of education of the university rather than the quantity of spreading more campuses and departments in other districts of the province.

The governor said this after the vice-chancellor said having established more disciplines after his appointment.

Earlier, the governor conferred degrees upon the 239 students of PhD, M.Phil, Masters and Bachelors while awarding gold medals to 105 graduates in different disciplines.

Presenting performance of the university, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ziaul Haq said that we are proud of the services rendered by the KMU in its short history of 15 years by producing thousands of graduates in various disciplines of health.

He said that in addition to the increased seats in MBBS and BDS programmes during the last couple of years, under KMU, specialists in the fields of basic medical sciences, public health, physiotherapy, nursing, paramedical sciences and health profession education are involved in medical services not only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but also in the entire country.

He said that KMU is one of the few universities in the country which is financially stable due to strict financial discipline which has given us the opportunity to set up new institutes in remote districts of the province especially in the merged districts.

Regarding the challenges faced by the university, Prof Dr Ziaul Haq said that the biggest challenge is the start of medical programmes by various public and private general universities of the province going beyond their limits. He hoped that the governor and the provincial government would take the necessary steps to assist us in this regard.

the vice-chancellor said the KMU is not only focusing on medical education and research but also through the establishment of a mass vaccination centre in addition to one million tests under the public health reference lab to tackle the corona pandemic which is an honour for us.

Referring to future plans, he said that we would soon launch international standard laboratory facilities in all major cities of the province as well as a state-of-the-art physiotherapy and rehabilitation centre where physiotherapy services would be provided at cut rates.

He hoped that the provincial government would increase the KMU’s annual grant as per demand and need basis as well as keeping in view the overall performance of the university.

Prof Dr Khalid Masood Gondal, Vice-Chancellor, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, also addressed the function.

In the end, the Governor awarded lifetime achievement awards to Prof Dr Muhammad Daud Khan, Prof Dr Muhammad Hafeezullah, Prof Dr Arshad Javed, Prof. Dr Muhammad Saleem Khattak, Prof. Dr Jawad Ahmad Prof. Dr Akhtar Shireen and Prof. Dr Khalid Masood Gondal.

It is worth mentioning that the KMU was established 15 years ago on January 13, 2007.

In KP, 25 medical colleges, 10 of them in the public sector and seven private, and eight dental colleges, five public sector and three private, are affiliated with the KMU.

The role that the KMU is playing in providing competent and trained human resources in various fields to tackle health problems in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is not only commendable but also worth emulation by other universities.