University of Health Sciences (UHS) Vice-Chancellor Professor Javed Akram has said that despite on-going research, Pakistan lacks quality medical journals.
“Only three medical journals in the world’s sixth-largest country in terms of the population had an impact factor”, he said during his address at a certificate distribution ceremony organized on Wednesday.
Prof. Javed Akram further said that the country’s first teaching department in medical journalism was going to be set up at UHS Jinnah Campus where a master’s degree program in medical journalism would be launched soon. He added that the varsity had already started a pioneer certificate course in medical editing to promote research and medical writing.
Later, the certificates were distributed among the successful participants of the second batch of the Medical Editing certificate course. A total of 33 participants were awarded certificates. The course participants included selected faculty members from medical and dental colleges across the country. The course aims to promote the publication of research journals in the field of health and to improve their quality. Cash prizes were also given to the candidates who secured the top three positions in the ceremony.
UHS former Vice Chancellor Major General (retired) Prof. Muhammad Aslam was the chief guest on the occasion. Other notable people present included President, Pakistan Association of Medical Editors, Prof. Jamshed Akhtar, Course Coordinator Shaukat Ali Jawaid, Focal Person Prof. Nadia Naseem, Prof. Akbar Chaudhry, Prof. Nadeem Afzal and Prof. Sidrah Saleem.
On this occasion, focal person Professor Nadia Naseem highlighted the aims and objectives of the course. She said that for the first time feedback had been included in the course to further improve its quality. She added that those who complete the certificate course would get 32 credit points. Major General (retired) Professor Muhammad Aslam said that the system of admissions and examination in the course had been very transparent and based on pure merit. He stressed the need to prepare master trainers for the course and set up a separate library. He lauded the efforts of focal person Professor Nadia Naseem and course coordinator Shaukat Ali Jawaid in making the course a success.
Sahibzada Nasir Mansoor was awarded Sarwar J. Zuberi Prize for securing the first position. Muhammad Atif Qureshi was awarded the Tahir Saeed Haroon Prize for the second position. Third place was jointly won by Zahid Latif, Tayyaba Gul Malik and Saima Aleem. All three were awarded the Maqbool H. Jafary Prize. Nabiha Farast Khan was also given a special award of Rs. 20,000 for good performance.
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