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Chandka Medical College submits upgradation plan to HEC
Larkana, Feb 04, 2008: As required by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the
Chandka Medical College (CMC) administration has submitted an extensive plan to
the commission, justifying upgradation of the college into
university.
The plan was also sent to the Sindh secretary of services,
general administration and coordination, said CMC Principal Professor Sikandar
Shaikh while talking to this correspondent.
The academic council of the
CMC, in the light of an announcement made by President Pervez Musharraf on
February 28 last year while laying the foundation stone of a bridge over River
Indus connecting Larkana and Khairpur districts, had worked out the feasibility
of the upgradation of the institution, he said.
The principal said that
the CMC met all the requirements of a medical university.
A check list
the HEC was interested in, consisting of 22 items ranging from the size of
tangible assets to teaching faculty and other services, had been sent to the
commission, he said.
The standard of assets as required by the HEC was
Rs100 million whereas the CMC had over Rs1000 million assets, the professor
said. The minimum requirement for a university was four departments but the CMC
had 29 departments, he added.
The HEC criteria was 30 full time teachers
and two PhD degree holders whereas the CMC had 118 faculty members on the roll,
the professor said.
A library of a university should have, according to
the HEC criteria, 15,000 books from major international publishers in the
relevant field but the CMC's library had 100,755 books covering almost all the
medical sciences-related subjects, he said, adding that the library had
subscription of 20 international journals while the requirement was 15
journals.
The president had said that the CMC should be upgraded by the
Sindh government while the federal government would extend assistance if
required.
The CMC has a vast campus stretched over 932 kanals with 29
departments among them seven on the basic side, Professor Shaikh said. Work on a
full-fledged dental college, adjacent to the CMC, at a cost of Rs94.212 million
was in full swing, he said and added that a batch of 50 students would get
admission to it every year.
The CMC was attached with a 1,250-bed
hospital and had eight hostels and the regional centre of College and Physicians
and Surgeons of Pakistan for post-graduate students, he said.
He said
that shortage of senior faculty was the problem with every medical college in
public sector and it would easily be overcome if the CMC was given a degree
awarding status.
The Sindh government had agreed in principle to
surrender all the sanctioned posts with Sindh Public Service Commission for the
recruitment, sources said.
A summery would be moved to the caretaker
Sindh chief minister with a request to accord permission to spend block
allocation of Rs275.00 million kept in the current budget for medical
institutions and hospitals, sources said. Dawn
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