Karachi: While addressing the closing session of the two-day International Symposium 2023 at Dow University of Health Sciences, experts have emphasized that if the subjects of Humanities are also included in the curriculum of medical education, not only the effectiveness of medical education will increase but also This will help the students to understand the problems of patients in practical life.
The chief guest of the International Symposium organized under the title “Bridging the Gap Between Foundational Education and Health Sciences Practices and Future Directions” was Prof. Tariq Rafi, Chairman Higher Education Commission Sindh, while the guest of honor was Vice Chancellor Dow University Prof. Mohammad Saeed Quraishy and other well-known nationals and foreign experts also addressed. While ten workshops were held on the first day of the symposium, 5 were held at Ojha campus and 5 at DMC campus. 200 delegates participated in the symposium and an exhibition of posters created by students of various universities was also held.
The Chief Guest Prof. Tariq Rafi congratulated Prof. Muhammad Saeed Qureshi and the team of Dow University for organizing the International Symposium and said that this International Symposium on a very important topic is the need of the hour. He said that I have heard from my patients that if a doctor listens to his patient carefully, empathizes with him, and gives him time, half of the patient’s disease gets cured. When a doctor doesn’t listen to his patient, the patient feels dejected. So, a good doctor should be a good human being first. If we incorporate these courses in our curriculum that emphasize understanding patients’ sentiments, there would be a different scenario than what we see today in our society.
Guest of Honor, Prof. Muhammad Saeed Quraishy, Vice-Chancellor of Dow University, while explaining the purpose of the international symposium, said We have organized this conference to introduce foundation courses for medical students. Most of you have gone through medical education, where you learn hard skills. You aquire knowledge but what you don’t aquire are soft skills and human skills which are necessary to converse and communicate with the patient. And deal with patient in a very soft manner rather than just treating him. We have scholars from Vietnam and Indonesia who are present here physically, and we have people online too from US and Australia.
From the symposium, Dr. Syed Izhar Hussain, Director of the Institute of Health and Business Management, DUHS said that mathematics should also be included in the curriculum of medical students. While Dr. Sohail Rao from America and other online experts from Australia also gave a presentation while Dr. Fandiari from Indonesia also addressed the participants.
