Punjab medical colleges admission process

Delay in UHS entrance test result irked prospective students
Lahore, Dec 2: After a passage of four months, the University of Health Sciences (UHS) has not been able to complete the process for admission to 11 medical colleges of the province.

The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore announced the intermediate result on August 15, but students interested in getting admission in medical colleges, are still uncertain about their future. For the last two years, the UHS has been conducting entrance tests for FSc (pre-medical) and A-level students. This year, the university conducted the test in September, in which 20,228 students appeared, of which 14,981 were declared eligible for admission in medical and dental colleges.The number of seats in 11 medical colleges is 1,961, including KEMU Lahore 262; AIMC Lahore 240; FJMC Lahore 160; SIMS Lahore 142; Nishter Medical College Multan 229; Punjab Medical College Faisalabad 251; RMC 251; Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur 249; Sheikh Zayed Medical College Rahim Yar Khan 78; Sargodha Medical College Sargodha 59; and Nawaz Sharif Medical College Gujrat has 40 open-merit seats.

The UHS displayed its first list on November 16. After the displaying of the list, several students who cleared the entrance test enrolled in private medical colleges. According to rules, private medical colleges can admit students once the first list is displayed. Sana Ashraf, a private medical college student, said, "It is negligence on the part of the university because it displayed the first list after four months. Now it is displaying the second list after an interval of one month. The UHS has also announced to display I would display the third list in January 2010."

Muhammad Haseeb, another student, said that due to the delay, students were compelled to seek admission in pharmacy, biochemistry and biotechnology courses. A Punjab University (PU) official said admissions in various medicine-related disciplines had been affected due to the negligence of the UHS. Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Joint Secretary Dr Shahid Malik said there was lack of coordination among the institutions. He said, "We should regularise a central admission department to restructure the admission procedure." UHS Public Relations Officer (PRO) Muhammad Atif said they had completed the admission process in limited time and performed well under available resources and time. He said the UHS conducted the entry test on September 27 and announced the result next day. Daily times

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IJT accused of razing PU hostel wall to set up office
Lahore: The Punjab University administration on Tuesday accused Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) activists of razing the wall of a room of hostel No 1 in a bid to set up an illegal office.

According to a PU spokesman, the incident took place on Monday night at 11:00 pm. He added on information administrative officials reached the spot where eyewitnesses told them that IJT workers and expelled students were involved in the incident.

The spokesman added a mason was hired who started working on the wall, however, on IJT interference he refused to continue his work and left the job incomplete.

Later, some teachers and students constructed the wall, he said, adding that it was once again razed on Tuesday evening by Jamiat activists.

Meanwhile, in a press statement PU teachers and students condemned the incident and termed it ìan evil designî to disturb a peaceful academic atmosphere of the campus. They demanded the Punjab chief minister order police to take strict action against the accused.

Hall Council Chairman Dr Muhammad Akhtar said IJT activists had damaged property of the varsity time and again and tortured students and employees. He said several FIRs and complaints had been registered with police stations against them but no action had been taken so far. He demanded the CM order police to take strict action against the accuse.

Adviser Students Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry said some students had been expelled from the university by the disciplinary action committee after they were found involved in illegal activities on the campus.

Resident Officer Prof Shahid Gul said offices had been in illegal custody of the IJT over the last 25 years but last year Vice-Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran got the rooms vacated from their custody. He said the rooms were in use of the staff of the resident officer-II.

However, when contacted, PU New Campus nazim Usman Ashraf refuted the allegations, claiming it was only a story concocted by the varsity administration. He said PU students had launched a campaign against the university administration, claiming that allegations were being levelled against Jamiat to divert their attention.

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PU winter vacation
Lahore: The Punjab University departments, institutes, centres and constituent colleges will remain closed from December 21 to December 28 on account of annual winter vacation. The news

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Students attended peace ceremony
Lahore: Punjab University Faculty of Arts Dean and visiting South Asia Professor Dr S Qalb-i-Abid along with students & teachers participated in a special ceremony held in Hamburg, Germany to promote peace in South Asia.

The ceremony was organized by Muslim representatives of Berlin and Hamburg, Ansar Butt & Jehangir Saleem, which was also attended by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Arabs, Turks, Iranians, Afghans and Germans.

The objectives of the ceremony were also to promote inter-religious harmony and highlight the need to establish peace in South Asia regions.

The academic theme was that trillions of dollars spent on confrontation in South Asia should be spent on poverty alleviation, better health system, speedy justice, good-governance. F.P Report

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Police manhandle protesting Beaconhouse students
Lahore: Police on Tuesday manhandled students from the Beaconhouse School System (Defence Campus) when they tried to block the Defence Main Boulevard to protest against the killing of their schoolmate in a road accident on Friday.

The students alleged that the police were protecting the accused – the brother of a member of the National Assembly (MNA) – who was 'drunk' when his car crashed into their friends car on Defence Road.

Around 200 students protested in front of Masjid Chowk for three hours and then marched towards Sector-S to protest in front of the residence of the Punjab chief minister. As the protesters reached Lalak Shaheed Chowk, police personnel deployed there started beating them, the students said.

They said the policemen, headed by Defence SHO Mian Qadeer, tried to stop them from protesting, and thrashed them upon refusal. At this, the students started shouting slogans against the police, which compelled the SHO to calm them down and allow them to protest near the CM's residence in Sector-S. However, they were not allowed to protest outside the residence.

Shahzeb, a student said that he and his friends Adnan Khawar and Fahad Azeem were in a car near Masjid Chowk on Friday night when a rashly driven car went out of control and hit the divider. He said the vehicle hit the light pole, which crashed on their car, killing Adnan Khawar instantly. Fahad Azeem, who was injured in the incident, said he was still undergoing treatment, but had joined the protesters for the sake of his deceased friend.

He alleged that the police have released one of the culprits, who is the brother of an MNA. Azeem Sajjad, Fahad's father, alleged that the MNA had reached the spot on Friday night and smashed the bottles of wine found in his brother's car, so that the police could claim there was no evidence.

The protesters alleged that the police were not even telling them the name of the MNA who had reached the crime scene. SHO Qadeer said the police had arrested the accused but the family of the deceased had refused to file charges against them or to have an autopsy conducted. He said the police had to release the accused, adding that action could still be taken if the family demanded.

Sub-Inspector Allahditta said the accused were identified as Manan Hameed Gujjar and Riaz, both residents of Model Town. He said the accused were not drunk and none of them were related to any MNA. Daily times

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33.4 million people infected with HIV
Lahore: The third national conference on HIV/AIDS was organised by the Pakistan Medical Society in collaboration with Directorate General Health Service, Punjab, at the UVAS auditorium.

Addressing the conference, University of Veterinary & Animal Science Lahore Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Nawaz said, "The day provides opportunities for spreading awareness about the status of the pandemic and encourage progress in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in high prevalence countries."

Prof Muhammad Nawaz said according to 2008 figures released by World Health Organization (WHO), presently 33.4 million people were living with HIV. An estimated 2.7 million were newly infected with the virus and 2 million died of AIDS the same year, he said.

He said we must ask teachers and students all over the world to spend "One Hour on AIDS". Pakistan Medical Society Chairman Dr Masood Akhtar Sheikh said WHO recommended earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy for adults and adolescents. He said WHO also recommended availability of more patient-friendly antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), and prolonged use of ARVs to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

For the first time, WHO recommends that HIV-positive mothers or their infants take ARVs while breastfeeding to prevent HIV transmission. Dr Masood Sheikh added that the immune system became weaker as the infection progressed and the infected got more susceptible to infections.

The most advanced stage of HIV infection is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It can take 10-15 years for an HIV-infected person to develop AIDS. Antiretroviral drugs can slow down the process even further.

He said that HIV was transmitted through unprotected sexual activity, transfusion of contaminated blood, sharing of contaminated needles and from a mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Right now, there is no cure or vaccination for HIV. The news

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World Disabled Day function
Lahore: Special Education and Training Centre (SETC) will organize a function in connection with World Disabled Day here on Wednesday, December 2 (today) at Johar Town. Minister for special education Punjab Malik Muhamad Iqbal Cahnner will attend the function as chief guest.

Prof Dr Khalida Tareen, Project Director SETC said that purpose of this event was to create the awareness among the masses that if we train the disabled persons they could become useful members of the society. Dr Khalida said that her institution was offering skill training to more than 170 disabled children in different fields.

SETC children have participated and won gold medals in Special Olympics. An exhibition of products prepared by SETC would also be organized on the occasion, Dr Khalida Tareen added. F.P. Report

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