KARACHI:
After the upgrade of Sindh Medical College (SMC) to a university, the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) employees have demanded that their institution be also elevated to the status of a federal university.
The Sindh Medical University, the college – formed in 1973 – was granted the university status on Friday after the Sindh governor signed an ordinance, making it the third medical university in Karachi.
However, the move has not gone down too well with the officials at Jinnah hospital.
The hospital’s administration and academic council staff, along with the departmental heads and the nursing staff members, adopted a resolution on Saturday demanding the promotion of the institution to a university. The meeting was chaired by JPMC Executive Director Dr Tasneem Ahsan.
They were of the view that the SMC has six basic departments only and was still given the university status, whereas the JPMC, its parent institution, has been totally neglected. The medical college was accommodated by the JPMC for nearly four decades and its students were taught and trained without any remuneration, they said.
The ordinance declaring Sindh Medical College a university has created a lot of confusion. People tend to mix up the major differences between the JPMC and Sindh Medical College. The Jinnah hospital, along with National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) were recently devolved to the Sindh government. Their administrations, however, went to court, wanting to remain a part of the federal government. An administration official of the Jinnah hospital said that the making of Sindh Medical University had made the matters even more complex, as the SMC alone has no standing.
The participants of the meeting reiterated their demand of granting the JPMC the status of a federal university and making it a teaching hospital.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (3)
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As SMC has given status of University, Congratulations; main objective should be to get required numbers of teachers per student and faculty needed. When I was at DMC, we had lack of student per teacher ration and there were more students then teachers ratio. Just to call it a University will look good on papers and the standards will not change unless follow PMDC rules and regulations.
SMC has merged with JPMC to become SMU, so now SMC has a teaching hospital and JPMC has its own medical college; problem solved!
This problem has been going on for decades , I being a recent grad of SMC know very well about this issue, JPMC being a federal institute had most of its faculty coming from all over Pakistan and they refused to accept students from SMC as their own. This was a night mare for SMCians because it is the only medical college in Pakistan which didnt have its own hospital. This new is a breath of fresh air not only for students but also for all the alumini who were desperately trying for years to make this happen.
I like this idea. SMC should be spared to DUHS, while if JPMC wishes, it should be given status of university alone so that more medical students can be recruited. logically, SMU doesn't increase amount of students possibly be recruited. In that way, JPMC is standing by a great point. Plus, there was no logical strong point for making of SMU.
Or if democracy is the solution, a survey of opinions should be done by government officials with proper set of questions or proper voting should be held among doctors.