King Edward Medical University: Ex-principals, alumni push CM to restore college

Say undergraduate students suffering due to lack of space, teachers.

LAHORE:

Five former principals have backed a proposal that King Edward Medical College (KEMC) be restored as an affiliated college of King Edward Medical University (KEMU) to overcome staffing and funding problems.

In a letter to the chief minister, members of the Young Doctors Association, KEMC alumni (known as Kemcolians) and the former principals said that the standard of MBBS education had declined since the college had been upgraded to a university. “Restoration of KEMC would bring back the glory of the institute,” says the letter.

KEMU Vice Chancellor Dr Asad Aslam Khan disagreed with the proposal, saying it would make the institution harder to run. Health Secretary Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan and officials in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat told The Express Tribune that the proposal was being considered seriously.

“The KEMC was given the status of university in 2006 and has been facing numerous problems since then, like a shortage of 44 teachers. No new campus, hostels or research labs have been established. The MBBS students ... are suffering. We have a separate principal for the College of Allied Vision Sciences, a separate principal for the School of Physiotherapy and Nursing, and these colleges are affiliated with KEMU and getting their budget from the Health Department,” the letter states.

It says that restoring the college would again make it the most attractive posting for professors in the Punjab. Government professors are believed to be less keen for a posting to autonomous universities since it restricts their promotion prospects. Professors at universities can only hope for a promotion when a vacancy opens up in that university; but college professors can be promoted when a vacancy opens up at any of the public medical colleges in the province.

“We, the young and old graduates of KEMC, demand the restoration of KEMC as a constituent college of KEMU with a separate principal to manage the affairs of MBBS students as all the vacancies and funds for the college are being released by Health Department. The same is being practised at DOW Medical University and Aga Khan University,” says the letter, which is also signed by former principals Prof Ijaz Ahsan, Prof Mahmood Ali Malik, Prof M Akhtar Khan, Prof Iftikhar Ahmad and Prof Naseer Mahmud Akhtar.

Kemcolian and Young Doctors Association (YDA) President Dr Rana Sohail, speaking to The Express Tribune, said that the undergraduates at KEMU were getting a rough deal. “There used to be 1,300 MBBS students at KEMC in 2006. Now there are above 3,000 medical students. But the building is the same and the labs too. Earlier every student could get a single room but now four people are living in one room. When it comes to classrooms, hostels and faculty, post-graduate students are given preference over undergraduate students. Ultimately, it is the MBBS students who are suffering. If KEMC is restored as an affiliated constituent college of KEMU, a separate principal would be in a better position to look after the interests of the MBBS students,” he said.

Dr Sohail said that KEMC used to have the best teachers, but many of them  including Allama Iqbal Medical College Principal Dr Javed Akram and Services Institute of Medical Sciences Principal Dr Faisal Masud – had moved on. “When it became KEMU, senior teachers went away one by one and other senior professors don’t want to be transferred here anymore. If KEMC is restored we can again get the best teachers here through the pull of the Health Department,” he said. “Currently post-graduate trainees are taking clinical classes due to a faculty shortage. A stenographer has been given the additional charge of assistant registrar (academics).”

Prof Mahmood Ali Malik, KEMC principal in 1997, said people around the world knew KEMC, but they didn’t know KEMU. He said the college should be restored. “Medical universities worldwide have their constituent colleges,” he said.

A head of department at KEMU, who wished not to be named, said the prestige of the institute was suffering under the current arrangement. “Students who do their MBBS from China and Russia and then get admission in a post-graduate course at KEMU start calling themselves Kemcolians,” he complained. “The real Kemcolains are the one who do an MBBS from here.” He said that construction work was ongoing on the campus although experts had recommended against it. “A team of British doctors and architects which came here in the 1960s to upgrade Mayo Hospital suggested at that time that there should be no more construction at the premises. They had said that its sewage passes through Anarkali Bazaar, which would get choked if more construction was allowed. Also, the emergency here was inaccessible due to the traffic. This was in the 1960s. But nobody is bothered about that report and construction is being done on the same premises,” he said.

KEMU Vice Chancellor Prof Asad Aslam Khan said restoring the college would create a dichotomy of powers between the college’s principal and the university’s vice chancellor. “When KEMC was upgraded to KEMU, it was seen as a reward for the good work. You cannot take back that reward. If KEMC is restored and its principal makes a policy it’s quite possible the VC won’t approve it, thus destabilising the institution,” he said.

Prof Khan said that plenty of alumni agreed with him and they would also make their views known to the chief minister. “Around 400 people will write and sign a letter saying that KEMC shouldn’t be restored,” he said.

He said that the university still had the best and most qualified medical faculty in the province. “Posts fall vacant and they get filled. We have advertised and will find suitable candidates,” he said.

The vice chancellor said that the space problems on campus were being resolved. “We are constructing a new block at an estimated cost of Rs228 million over the next 24 months. It will have six floors along with a basement. Then we will upgrade our other buildings one by one,” he said.

Health Secretary Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan said he had not seen the proposal, but it sounded like a good idea. “If former principals are suggesting this we will definitely mull over it. KEMC has not only been a great institute in Pakistan but also has a worldwide reputation,” he said. “Having KEMC as an affiliated college is a very suitable proposal and we will consider it seriously.”

The Lahore Medical School was established in 1860 and renamed King Edward Medical College in 1911. It is the second oldest seat of medical learning in the sub-continent after a college in Calcutta.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2011.