LAHORE: The 50th meeting of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) Board of Governors, which was held here on Monday with former Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani in the chair, accorded approval to amendments in the regulations for the institution of university medals under which an awardee of a medallion will also receive a cash prize of Rs 100,000.

In addition, medals may be instituted in the name of eminent academicians and researchers especially in health sciences with the concurrence of the university’s academic council with a donation of one million rupees. The board directed that an Endowment Fund would be established to help needy students with the money received from these donations, to which the university alumni and the pharma industry should be urged to contribute.

Among others, Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Akram, Pro-VC Professor Maroof Aziz, Registrar Dr Asad Zaheer and representatives of the provincial Health and Finance departments attended the meeting.

The UHS board also passed a unanimous resolution in recognition of the services of Prof Javed Akram who had completed his four-year term as the 10th vice- chancellor of the university. A committee was also constituted with Prof Maroof Aziz as its convener, to oversee the progress of the development of botanical gardens at the Jinnah Campus, Kala Shah Kaku. These botanical gardens would be set up under a public-private partnership. The meeting approved the appointment of Prof Maroof Aziz as project director for setting up a biotechnology park at the UHS Jinnah Campus.

Prof Maroof Aziz presented a report on the establishment of the preventive cardiology department at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Lahore. Under the project, the department would have the students and the faculty of UHS while the premises of PIC would be used for training.

Prof Javed Akram said that establishment of a new department was crucial to educate the general public regarding the risk factors of heart disease. He said that millions of rupees spent on treatment could be saved by spending only thousands on prevention.

Furthermore, the rules and regulations for the award of a Doctor of Science degree, appointment of 11 new faculty members on the recommendation of the Syndicate, and the establishment of a health-related business incubation centre were also approved by the board.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022