PMA for registration of dental institute with Sindh Medical University

The medical body argues that DUHS already has a dental college.

KARACHI: The Ishratul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences (DIKIOHS) should be affiliated with the Sindh Medical University, instead of any other medical university. The Pakistan Medical Association Karachi presented the demand during its meeting on Tuesday.

As the date for admissions draws near, “It will be a matter of great concern for the new first year students who are admitted at the Ishratul Ebad Institute of Dental Health if its affiliation is not clear,” said PMA’s honorary secretary general Dr Qazi M Wasiq.

Other PMA officials feared that admissions to BDS programmes would be restricted to dental colleges located at the Dow International Medical College and the Dow Medical College.

DIKIOHS is located in the old block of the Sindh Medical College and is being run by SMC’s staff. It will be against the rules if a medical or dental college located in a university is affiliated with another university, argued Wasiq. He added that DUHS already has a dental college inside the Dow International Medical College, while another would be established inside the Dow Medical College.

According to sources, the DUHS administration is reluctant to hand over the institute to the newly formed SMU. The provincial health department recently cut DUHS’s grant by half, and reportedly allocated the funds to SMU.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2012.