Postgraduate Medical Education Conference at AKU

Experts Highlight Need for Linkages and Networks between Institutions for Strengthening Postgraduate Medical Education

L to R: Dr. Mohammad Khurshid, Dean Medical College, Aga Khan University; Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, President, Aga Khan University; Dr Abjul Majeed Rajput, Director General Health, Government of Pakistan and Dr. Nadir Syed, Associate Dean, Postgraduate Medical Education, Aga Khan University.

This was stated by Dr Abjul Majeed Rajput, Director General Health, Government of Pakistan, who was the chief guest at the plenary session of the two-day Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Conference organised by Aga Khan University (AKU) on June 3-4, 2005 . Speakers of national and international repute, senior medical educators from Pakistan , as well as AKU faculty and students, participated in this conference which also comprised five workshops.

Speaking in the context of the conference theme 'Building Bridges: Strengthening Postgraduate Medical Education through Cooperation', Dr Rajput said it was heartening to note that the overall standard of postgraduate medical training has risen over the past two decades.  "The role of the College of Physicians and Surgeons has been instrumental in achieving this.  The postgraduate medical education system developed and evolved by AKU has had an influence far beyond its immediate environment and has created a role model for others to follow," noted Dr Rajput.

In keeping with its international mandate and mission to develop quality human resources in the areas of health and education, the University has witnessed rapid expansion in recent years, and now has 10 teaching sites in seven countries in Africa, Asia and Europe .

AKU's PGME Programmes, which have been offered at the Aga Khan Hospitals in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam since 2004, are specially designed to respond to the health needs of East Africa . By training independent specialists ready to take up practising posts in public and private sector hospitals in East Africa , AKU aims to assist in significantly enhancing the number of qualified professionals in specialist care in a region that has long suffered from workforce attrition and an increasing disease burden.

"It will be useful and of immense value if such programmes are developed all over the country, and linkages and networks established between institutions, individuals and organizations nationally and internationally to enhance this development," Dr Rajput suggested.  In this regard, he continued, "this conference is welcome as it highlights the next phase in the development of postgraduate medical education in Pakistan ."

Highlighting the necessity of a post-training career structure for doctors in the country, Dr Rajput said that once the doctors finish their training and are certified by the CPSP, they have "no single source from where they can get information about jobs, fellowships or further professional developments vacancies."  In addition, he observed, no established way exists to absorb all the trained specialists into the health care system. Dr Rajput urged that an initiative from the profession itself should come, which the government could support. He also suggested that the conference give some thought to the idea of establishing a national task force on this subject which can then deliberate, consult and come up with recommendations.

Underscoring the importance of postgraduate medical education, President of AKU Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, H.I., S.I. said that "the vast proportion of clinical research in our country is not a product of PhDs but of physicians trained through the PGME track." Therefore, he explained, PGME is the principal source of leadership and clinicians that influence not only clinical service delivery but also clinical education and clinical research in the future.  Hence, investment in the quality of the PGME programmes would truly be an investment into health care delivery, clinical education and research in Pakistan , added President Kassim-Lakha.

He said that AKU had, at an earlier point, been invited by several international postgraduate bodies, including the Royal Colleges, for affiliation, but it chose to support, and thereby strengthen, Pakistan 's own national institutions such as CPSP. "I am very happy to note that in the process, we have built some strong and useful bilateral bridges with CPSP and other eminent national institutions," he remarked.

He revealed that it was increasingly becoming clear that most developing countries, including Pakistan , could best depend on themselves to solve their own endemic problems. "No longer can we in Pakistan look to experts from industrialized countries for solutions. Our health care problems and the conditions that foster them are best known to us.  Consequently, we have the best understanding of the medical and scientific but also the sociological, cultural, ethical and the anthropological basis for their solutions. We need to come together as a nation to solve these endemic health problems and it is our belief that many of these can be addressed through strong PGME programmes in Pakistan ."

Dr Saad Bashir, Associate Professor and Consultant Neurosurgeon, and Chair PGME Conference Committee, said in his introductory remarks, that the idea of the conference was to promote linkages between institutions, individuals and organizations involved in postgraduate medical education so that the quality, content, standards and processes of this education can be enhanced, developed and strengthened all across the country.  "If institutions, trainers and trainees form networks, establish channels of communications and develop linkages with each other, the whole process of professional training will be enhanced for everyone," he added. 

Others who spoke on the occasion included Professor Irshad Waheed, Secretary, CPSP, Lt. Gen. Afzal Ahmed, Surgeon General of Pakistan and Director General Medical Services, Professor Masood Hameed Khan, Vice Chancellor Dow University of Health Sciences, Professor Gillian Needham from Scotland, and Dr Nadir Syed, Associate Dean, PGME, AKU.