All set to fill vacant positions at JPMC

Jinnah Sindh Medical University vice chancellor says new medical colleges planned in the city

KARACHI:

There are 140 positions of professors, associate professors, and assistant professors lying vacant at various departments of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) said Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) Vice Chancellor Professor Amjad Siraj Memon.

The process of appointments on these seats has started after the Sindh government gained control of JPMC from the federal government after 25 years," Memon said talking to The Express Tribune. JPMC, National Institute of Cardio Vascular Diseases (NICVD) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH) have been transferred from the Centre to the provincial government recently. Memon said selecting the heads of the various faculties at Jinnah Hospital during the last 10 years was made possible on technical grounds.

New medical colleges

In an interview with The Express Tribune, Memon said that JSMU is also creating Jinnah International Medical College in the heart of Karachi.

Meanwhile a separate building has been set aside to construct a medical college exclusively for boys.

Furthermore, JSMU will hire 400 consulting specialists in various areas, he said, adding, though JSMU does not have its own teaching facility, its students undertake clinical rotations at JPMC. "We are also establishing a separate JSMU teaching hospital." He stated that the National Institute of Cardiology and JSMU inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) about preventive cardiology. Teams of mobile cardiac clinics will deliver free heart-related medical services door-to-door in various parts of the city.

Memon said that the Institute of Medical Technology had opened a new campus in Landhi to provide the local youth with medical technical education. The Institute of Medical Technology offers a variety of 4-year medical technology courses. Four-year Bachelor of Science BS degree courses in eight major disciplines have also been started at the Institute of Medical Technology.

He said that JSMU has become the largest public sector university, and more than 5,000 students are enrolled there, while the Pakistan Medical and Dental Commission (PMDC) has also requested to increase 25 seats in Dental Science.

MDCAT exams

He said that JSMU will conduct the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test examination for the 2023-24 admissions in the government and private medical and vocational colleges on August 27.

He stated that two examination centers would be established in Karachi, at Ojha and NED, for the MDCAT exam. While three examination centers will be set up in Sindh for applicants whose preparations are complete and the MDCAT examination is currently being prepared.

Memon said 20 questions are being collected from various teachers, and these questions will be prepared by specific software in MDCAT written test question papers (papers). All questions will be taken from the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) syllabus.

Candidates were required to provide their XI mark sheets because the XII results come out by August. The information about the written test on August 27 has been made public on the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council website, he said.

Lab services

Memon said JSMU also offers laboratory services to the general public for the economical diagnosis of various ailments. In addition to the JSMU laboratory collection center in Hyderabad, 10 laboratory collection centers have been established in Karachi. The Department of Family Medicine at JSMU provides a range of services to raise public awareness.

The first attendance machine was created by the IT department of Jinnah Sindh Medical University and is now undergoing testing. Jinnah Sindh Medical University will soon introduce various products in the market. Jinnah Sindh Medical University has already founded 13 institutions, while a college of nursing and midwifery is now being created in partnership with Valika Hospital. For the first time, a dental ambulance service will also be launched soon to offer dental care to the general public.

18th Amendment

Notably, these three federal hospitals-Jinnah Hospital, NICH, and NICVD Hospital-were transferred to the provincial government in 2011 when the 18th Amendment was approved. Following the ruling, the staff of the three institutions, including Jinnah Hospital, petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn this judgment, in which it was argued on behalf of the staff that the three hospitals should remain under federal control. For ten years, this case was being heard in court.

The three hospitals' doctors, teachers, staff members, and teaching cadre (faculty) were retiring at this time after serving their terms, but permanent hiring of personnel was not possible in these three institutions. As a result, 140 professorial positions at Jinnah Hospital have been unfilled for the previous ten years, along with hundreds more staff positions. Similarly, NICH and NICVD hospitals have around 500 vacant positions for doctors and other staff members.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2023.