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Dow varsity starts MSc in diabetes, endocrinology
Karachi, Jan 16, 2008: In a bid to contain diabetes and cater to the needs of
nine million diabetics in Pakistan, the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS)
will soon start an online training programme designed specifically for family
physicians.
This was announced by the DUHS vice-chancellor, Prof Masood
Hameed Khan, here on Tuesday at a press conference organised at the inauguration
of an MSc programme at the National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology at
the Ojha campus of the varsity.
Briefing about the MSc
programme, he said that this two-year master degree course comprising four
semesters, two in diabetes and two in endocrinology, was the first of its kind
in Pakistan.
The vice-chancellor said that the faculty selected for the
course included senior teachers of the DUHS and renowned endocrinologists and
diabetologists of the country and collaboration with foreign institutions was
also in progress. Candidates would also be trained at the orthopaedics, medical
ICU, paediatrics and gynae and obstetrics departments of the DUHS, he
said.
Prof Khan also informed the audience that a diabetic educator
programme would also be started for paramedics this year.
He announced
mobile van services for healthcare delivery system in the suburbs.
The
vice-chancellor also spoke about the future development plans of the university
including Jinnah Genome Centre and the Institute of Liver Diseases and a
research diagnostic laboratory at Ojha campus.
Prof Khan said that the
Dow University of Health Sciences had constituted a research advisory board
where 10 candidates had been enrolled for PhD.
The director of the
National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Prof M. Zaman Shaikh, said
that in 2003, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) had estimated that
there were 194 million people with diabetes around the world and predicted that
by 2005, it would rise to 350 million.
He said every ten seconds a person
died of diabetes while two people developed diabetes. Eighty per cent of people
with diabetes belonged to the middle and lower socio-income countries of the
world.
It is estimated that in Pakistan 6.2 million people have diabetes,
representing 8.5 per cent of the adult population in Pakistan. According to the
World Health Organisation (WHO), the figure is expected to reach 11.6 million by
2025.
Prof Shaikh said that the mortality rate from diabetes was expected
to increase by 51 per cent in Pakistan over the next 10 years.
He also
stressed the need for educating the masses to eliminate wrong cultural beliefs
about diabetics to effectively check the menace.
Earlier, introducing the
National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Prof Shaikh said that the
institute had entered its second phase of outdoor patients where consultation
was free and facility for laser therapy to prevent blindness in diabetics was
also available at discounted rates.
Giving details of the
newly-introduced programme, he said that the under-training postgraduates would
prove to be an asset to the healthcare services in the field of diabetes and
endocrinology in Pakistan.
The director of the Ojha Institute of Chest
Diseases, Prof Zeenat Ayub, said that a modern hospital had been established at
the campus for patients with tuberculosis and chest diseases.
Due to
increasing environmental pollution, the number of people with chest infections
was increasing rapidly, she said, adding that a masters programme would also
soon be started in TB and chest diseases under the Dow University of Health
Sciences. PPI
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