Murad urges doctors to serve in the interest of poor people

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah has urged the medical fraternity to serve in the interest of the poor people.

"Don't think about the money that you are going to earn in this profession but the services you are going to offer to humanity," said the CM while addressing the 17th convocation of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Science (LUMHS), where 577 students were conferred the degrees, in Jamshoro district.

"The people looked up at the doctors as saviours," he said. He said the Sindh government could keep on building new health facilities but without proportionate number of doctors who worked with dedication the facilities would remain mere building structures.

In the health sector Shah said his government had increased the non-salary budget including the sum spent on medicines. "We have doubled the budget and even tripled in some instances," he claimed.

The CM informed that when the Sindh Government took over National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) few years ago the institute's budget was only Rs700 million. However, in a span of few years the allocation had been increased ten times to around Rs7 billion, he added. "We are soon going to inaugurate the second largest cardiac care facility in Pakistan after NICVD Karachi in Sukkur district," he told.

Shah said before the Sindh government recently appointed over 6,000 doctors more than 700 health facilities in the province were non-functional because of shortage of doctors. He recalled that bureaucratic red tape had delayed filling the vacancies of doctors in Sindh. "I told Sindh Public Service Commission that I would create new vacancies if all the vacant posts have been filled but we ought to appoint more doctors," he told.

Referring to Prof Dr Shabbir Lehri, who in his speech prior to the CM had informed that against need of 1 million doctors in Pakistan only 170,000 were registered in the country, the CM vowed that his government would endeavour to increase institutes of medical education.

The CM said he was pleased to address the second consecutive convocation at LUMHS. "The government spends millions of rupees on each doctor graduating from the public sector medical universities. After graduation its now your responsibility to pay back to the people by serving them in a dedicated way," the CM advised the doctors.

Earlier, Member Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Prof Shabbir Lehri said the government spent a sum of Rs. 8 million on each medical student over a period of 5 years. "You can repay this money by working honestly and by serving the poor people," he advised.

He lamented that the existing trend showed that the doctors get indulged in the race for money and advised the young doctors to keep away from that race. "If you look at the top 30,000 richest people in the world, none of them are doctors. If you want to become rich join some other profession," he said.

Prof Lehri said Pakistan's population had soared to over 200 million but only 170,000 doctors were registered in the country and among them 30% were practising outside Pakistan in other countries. "We need at least 1 million doctors for 200 million population," he underlined.

Prof Lehri said several private medical colleges had recently started providing medical education but he contended that a majority of them were providing substandard education. Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor of LUMHS Prof Dr Bikha Ram Devrajani informed that 577 students including 499 undergraduate and 78 postgraduate had been conferred degrees at the event. As many as 294 females students were among the graduates, he added.

He informed that the degree recipients include 336 students of MBBS, 89 of Bachelors of Dental Surgery (BDS), 91 of Physiotherapy and 37 of Bio Medical Engineering. Among the MBBS students, Dr Zainab Aslam Saeed was declared the best graduate and she was decorated with 8 gold medals while Dr Muhammad Azhar and Dr Preh Arbab received 2 gold medals each.

In the discipline of BDS Dr Munal Maria was awarded 7 gold medals, Dr Hadiq 2 gold medals and a silver medal and Dr Marvi a gold and a bronze medal. Anam Bhatti of Bio Medical Engineering and Quratual Ain Hashmani of DPT also received the gold medals. The Sindh Health Minister Dr Sikandar Ali Mandhro, Sindh Works and Services Minister Imdad Pitafi and other dignitaries attended the event.