The secretary said this while addressing the inaugural session of three-day workshop on "Undergraduate Medical Curriculum" organised by Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar here at Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (IPM&R), Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar as chief guest,
Dr Sohail Altaf the medical curriculum was obsolete. Problem-based learning (PBL) was a self-directed learning which was also cost effective, he added saying a pilot project may be started for adopting PBL at a small scale in any one of the medical colleges of the province.
He stressed that faculty involvement for change in undergraduate curriculum was very essential and they should be kept on board while introducing new curriculum. Dr Sohail Altaf said we must acknowledge the efforts of KMU and especially Vice Chancellor for changing almost one hundred years' old curriculum of undergraduate medical education. He hoped that all the participants would learn from this workshop.
Vice Chancellor KMU Professor Dr Mohamamd Hafizullah said the current undergraduate medical curriculum was introduced 100 years ago." All subjects are taught in isolation with no relevance to each other", he said, adding that in almost all medical schools in the developed countries the curriculum had been changed to PBL. Even in our own country some of the medical colleges like Aga Khan University, Shifa International Medical College, Rawalpindi Medical College and Peshawar Medical College have introduced this change, he observed.
He said a number of workshops had been held in Khyber Medical College and Ayub Medical College regarding the new curriculum, but no serious attempt was made to implement the changes in the curriculum. He said KMU took up the challenge and arranged tour of leading medical institutions in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad by the principals of public sector medical colleges.
They studied their curricula and evaluation system and KMU then started the training of its faculty members for a changing in the curriculum, the VC added. Professor Hafizullah said that KMU has already conducted a number of workshops both for the faculty of public and private medical colleges, engaging resource persons from Aga Khan, Shifa International and Rawalpindi Medical College.
In the last workshop a number of modules were allotted to various medical colleges for development. The modules had been prepared and would be discussed in the workshop. Professor Dr Shad Mohammad Director Academics KMU and Dr Shiella Pinjani from Aga Khan University Karachi also addressed the workshop.