LAHORE -  At least 350 graduates were awarded degrees, 24 medals and 125 certificates at the first convocation of the Institute of Child Health and Children Hospital’s Allied Health Sciences School on Thursday.

Minister for Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafique has said that more opportunities of services will be created for qualified allied health professionals. Addressing the convocation at a hotel on Thursday, he said, separate council for allied health professionals would be set up on the pattern of PMDC and PMC.

ICH Dean Prof Masood Sadiq, Higher Education Commission Chairman Prof Nizam-ud-Din, Allied Health Sciences School Principal Dr Idrees Ahmed, principals of different medical colleges, faculty members, former deans, students and their parents attended the convocation.

Prof Masood Sadiq said that Children’s Hospital had become the largest such institution in the region with 1100 beds. He said that ICH was providing educational and training facilities in 43 specialties, providing degree and diploma courses. He said that 18 training programmes for undergraduates were being run in the institute. He said that allied health professionals had a key role in providing healthcare to patients. He said at least eight health professionals were needed for a person. He said that Pakistan was facing acute shortage of trained human resource. He said that so far 850 allied health professionals had completed their education from this institution and serving in the country and abroad. He disclosed that ICH would soon start master degree courses.

Prof Nizam-ud-Din said there was a huge demand for allied health professionals all over the world. He stressed the need for setting up a separate council for allied health professionals.

Mobile diabetes clinic

Shalamar Hospital/Sakina Institute of Diabetes and Endocrine Research (SIDER) and Novo Nordisk Pakistan on Thursday partnered to launch mobile diabetes clinic.

The event formally marked the MoU signing by Prof Bilal Bin Younus, representing SIDER and Rashed Rafiq Butt, General Manager Novo Nordisk. Danish Ambassador to Pakistan Rolf M Holmboe and Chairman Board of Trustees, Ch Ahmed Saeed also attended the ceremony.

The Changing Diabetes® mobile clinic van is supported by Novo Nordisk Pakistan and will operate under supervision of experts from SIDER in rural areas of Punjab.

Giving an overview of the project, Prof Bilal Bin Younis shared that more than 7 million people in Pakistan were suffering from diabetes. However, more than half of this population was unaware about the disease. “Diabetes is a situation that needs to be addressed urgently as it poses a great burden on the economy of Pakistan. Our initiative was aimed at timely diagnosis and management to avoid further complications”, he said.