Medical education should have a clear impact on the nation's health, therefore, it is of vital importance that the curricula is tailor-made to country's health by making primary health care an integral part of it.
These views were expressed by Dr Hussein A. Gezairy, WHO's Regional Director and former Saudi health minister during a workshop on "Public Health in Medical Education - Working with Grassroots", here at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Tuesday. The workshop was organised by WHO in collaboration with UHS and Institute of Public Health (IPH) Lahore.
WHO representative in Pakistan Dr Khalif Bile Mohamud, UHS Vice Chancellor Professor Malik H. Mubbashar, principals and senior faculty members of affiliated medical colleges attended the workshop which had two parts, one on the medical education in the context of public health and the second part focused on the community-based project entitled Basic Development needs (BDN) initiative. Feature of the second part was the participation of large number of community representatives from the project site, Kasur.
WHO Regional Director Dr Hussein A. Gezairy stated that if the health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Ratio, deliveries by the Skilled Birth Attendants, routine immunisations are improved, we can say the medical education has brought a change.
"Merely increasing the number of doctors is not the ideal situation," he said. "Our medical education should be able to produce such doctors who could not only treat ill- health but also detect the impending risk of disease outbreaks and contribute to prevent them by promoting public health," Dr Gezairy commented.
He highlighted that importance of applied research can help eradicate several diseases, including polio and hepatitis, in Pakistan. He also stressed upon the need of finding simple, but not necessarily latest, solutions for the health problems of the communities.
"Our goal should be to make Pakistan free of diseases and for this we need simple solutions. By ensuring the provision of safe drinking water, promoting healthy life style and good eating habits, and banning smoking including Shisha, we can protect, preserve and promote public health", he said.
He specifically appreciated the government's commitment to Eradicate Polio. However, he also pointed out that there was a need for more will and commitment at the lower level, which should be coupled with a strong monitoring and accountability system.
UHS vice-chancellor Professor Malik Hussain Mubbashar said that community based medical education could create more appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes, deepen understanding of the whole range of health, illness and the working of health and social services. He proposed that community medicine departments of medical colleges be renamed as public health departments.
He also emphasised the need of making better use of expertise and availability of staff and patients who are in primary care setting by enhancing multidisciplinary working, offering a broad range of learning opportunities, and increasing recruitment to primary care and generalist specialisation. Dean Institute of Public Health (IPH) Lahore, Professor Shakila Zaman said that there was a need for a regulatory body for public health education in the country. She also stressed the need for linking public health to communities.
On this occasion, the WHO supported community-based programme on primary health care interventions in Kasur District, called Basic Development Needs (BDN), was also explained by the community workers themselves to the participants. BDN is a community-based initiative, which is based on bottom up planning and inter-sectoral collaboration. The ultimate goal of this programme is where community plays central role to improve the quality of life of the people.
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