Upgradation of CMC Larkana
to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto
Medical University
If the PPP is sincere, it should not fail
once again to improve this institution

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly has passed a legislation to upgrade and rename Chandka Medical College Larkana to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University. According to details a 500-bed state of the art healthcare facility will also be constructed to be a part of this institution.  A plan costing rupees five thousand million rupees has been prepared and arrangements are also being made to acquire two hundred acres of land for the proposed medical university on Larkana-Karachi road.

During the first term of PPP government headed by late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the provincial government had established two new medical colleges in Sindh, one at Larkana the constituency of Mr. Z. A. Bhutto himself and the other at Nawabshah the constituency of Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, the then Chief Minister of Sindh province. However, the government failed to provide enough funding and other facilities to both these institutions to enable them to come at par with other medical colleges in the province. Pakistan Peoples Party got chance to govern twice again under the leadership of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto but unfortunately again both these institutions were neglected. Establishing new medical and dental colleges or upgradation of existing medical colleges to medical universities without arranging enough funding and appropriate facilities by the politicians is something which we are witnessing quite frequently for the last couple of years. However, sincerity to develop these institutions has most often been found lacking. One sincerely hopes that this time the Pakistan Peoples Party is sincere in its objective and will take appropriate measures to provide funding as well as all other requisite facilities to ensure that the medical university named after its leader emerges as a centre of excellence in the field of medicine. This dream will never be realized unless those at the helm of affairs accept the fact that it is the quality of faculty and not impressive buildings which determine the standing and credibility of any institution. Hence, they should have a close look at the faculty recruitment which should be done on merit and merit alone without any other considerations. To attract the best talent in respective fields, they should be offered lucrative remuneration and other facilities. All recruitments should be for this particular medical university so that those selected cannot be transferred to any other institution. As such those joining will also know before hand that they have to serve and live here. In the past Chandka Medical College Larkana and Nawabshah Medical College have often been used by the medical teachers to spend some time till they complete their requirement for promotion and then come back to Karachi. Not only that the remuneration offered to faculty members at both these institutions in the interior of Sindh is much less as compared to the remuneration which the faculty members get in Karachi. Hence under these circumstances who will prefer to stay at Chandka and Nawabshah Medical Colleges?

If this time the PPP government makes up its last failures and ensures selection and promotion of all faculty members on merit, not only provide the much needed funding but also makes sure that it is used judiciously with proper accountability, it will be a great service. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University and its affiliated teaching hospital should offer facilities of such a high standard that faculty members and patients from other cities of the province should be attracted to come and serve here and avail these facilities. However, if the PPP leaders themselves get admitted to Five Star Private healthcare facilities in Karachi and other parts of the country when they are sick, the institutions established in the interior of Sindh will never flourish and progress. Once the quality of patients being treated in these institutions improves and it can only happen if they are staffed with competent, experienced faculty and equipped with the state of the art equipment and instruments only then one can expect that these institutions will earn some credibility.

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