In a landmark decision signifying a thaw in India-Pakistan relationship, two Indian surgeons have been conferred fellowships of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan - the only postgraduate training and examination body of Pakistan awarding post-graduate in various medical disciplines.
The decision is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan and India, who have fought three wars since 1947.
The two Indian doctors, Dr PS Bakhshi and Dr RK Karwasra, along with the presidents of royal colleges of physicians and surgeons from Canada, Britain, South Africa and other representative organisations across the globe were in Pakistan on the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan’s (CPSP) invitation to attend events marking its golden jubilee celebrations.
They were among 20 eminent dignitaries from United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arab, Yemen, Kuwait, Bangladesh and Nepal, who were honoured with fellowships on Friday.
“These fellowships were awarded in recognition of their meritorious services for the people of their respective countries and for the humanity at large,” the CPSP director general international relations, Prof. Khalid Masood Gondal, told The Express Tribune. “This is the trust of international world on a Pakistani institution and its expertise that their top representatives arrived in Pakistan even in the current circumstances.”
The college established in 1962 has never in its 50-year history offered fellowships to physicians and surgeons from the neighbouring country, said Gondal. Eminent doctors of many developing and developed countries have been the college’s fellow for many years.
Dr Karwasra, the Association of Surgeons of India secretary, termed the gesture a “milestone in recognition of each others’ skills, education and expertise”, which would open up opportunities of mutual collaboration and advancement in the profession.
“The quality of postgraduate medical education in Pakistan is much better as compared to India due to a well-established system uniformly enacted across the country,” he opined.
“I would term it a historical day that any Indian surgeon has been officially recognised by their neighbouring fellows after Partition,” said an elated Dr Bakhshi while talking to The Express Tribune. The healthcare specialist is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and also the secretary of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Surgical Care Society that endeavours to build hospitals in every SAARC country where specialists and patients of respective countries can receive medical care irrespective of boundaries.
The society president, Prof. Dr Abdul Majeed Chaudhry, said that construction work for the first SAARC hospital in Amritsar has already been initiated on 10 acres of land donated by the Indian Punjab government.
“This hospital will set the benchmark in facilitating people from SAARC countries to avail world class health facilities,” said Dr Chaudhry, also the principal of Lahore Medical and Dental College, hoping for a new era of mutual trust and goodwill in the region.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2012.
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IT IS REALLY A GOOD GESTURE.MORE SUCH GESTURES ARE AWAITED.