OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE PIQC Institute of Quality CEO Dr Kamran Moosa has said that that over Rs500 billion are being lost annually in the country by different companies and organizations due to poor quality of manufacturing and service delivery. Delivering the inaugural speech at Pakistans 12th International Convention on Quality Improvement and 2nd Asian Network for Quality Regional Conference he said most of the companies are suffering loss due to poor operations, including rate of defectives and rejections, line losses, rework and errors in operations. This also includes the gross national wastage in academia in the form of 'tuition. In academia where estimated 10 million students of schools go to tuition centres annually and repeat again what was taught to them in the mbining, a national gross waste and rework just because the quality of teaching in the first go was not effective. He also stressed for the need to establish a 'National Quality Council at the state level on an emergency basis in line with Malaysian and Iranian governments in order to systematically deal with the issues of Quality and Standards in all the government ministries and organizations, schools, universities and as well as in the corporate sectors through chambers and manufacturing associations. Mr. Munawar Shah, Chairman of Quality and Productivity Society of Pakistan, the Association of Quality professionals of Pakistan, highlighted the need for the development of Quality Managers in the country and pointed out the recent initiatives taken by the QPSP in promoting Quality through efforts like Quality Managers Certifications, exams, conferences, Quality Forums, Healthcare and Educational Quality Chapters, celebration of World Quality Day annually and providing Quality Awards for Outstanding Quality professionals in the country. Khawaja Muhammad Yousaf, the CEO of National Productivity Organization (NPO) announced the launching of Prime Minister Quality Award from 2011 in which professional assessments will be carried out based on Total Quality Management Criteria in line with international state sponsored criteria for Performance Excellence. Mr. Imranulla Shariff, Executive Director of PIQC Institute of Quality pointed out the need to develop curricula on 'Quality in every academic program of higher education as well as in Polytechnic Colleges and common Schools at large. He also pointed out that nearly 40,000 professionals have been trained in the country by PIQC during the last 20 years. Gregory Watson, President of International Academy for Quality, worlds most prestigious organization, which is leading the global Quality professionals community stressed the need for the effective development of Quality Assurance and Management programs in the organizations and the role of their top management, especially in the difficult socioeconomic conditions. He shared the global experience on Quality and how it is being handled in different countries. He provided a framework for linking Quality with the organizational strategy. Top management from a number of World Class organizations shared their Quality Management programs, Strategies and best practices with the participants. This included: Mr. Ilyas Sun of Indus Motors Ltd., Sohial P. Ahmed of Thal Engineering, Nadeem Mustafa Khan of Aga Khan University Hospital, Dr. Ali Sajid of UET Lahore, Turab Mi Khan of PTC Ltd, Dr. Nawar Khan of NUST, Prof Dr. Syed M. Awais of King Edward Medical University, Dr. Ali Fayadh of Oman Quality Netwnrk. Imtiaz Rastgar of Rastgar Engineering, Khurram Nawaz of National Bonds UAE, Thilak Pushpakumara from Sri Lanka, Ijaz Yusuf of UMT, Rizvana Ikran of Hashoo Group, Dr. Bushra Kazmi of Armed Forces Hospital Saudi Arabia, Dr. Faisal Sultan of Shaukat Khanum Memorials Cancer Hospital, Dr. Saira of GIZ Germany, Furqan Khan of NetSol Tecbnolgies and many others.