LAHORE: The future of over 50-year-old Post-Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI) seems to be stake as it fails to make new admissions to postgraduate degree programmes following the new policy of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) which declares that the universities are not allowed to launch/ offer admission to MS/Mphil in their affiliated institutions/colleges.

As the PGMI is affiliated with the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, the new policy gravely affected the postgraduate institute.

An official says the PGMIauthorities fear that the future of over 200 postgraduate students enrolled every year is at stake as it cannot start admissions following the HEC`s directions.

Presently, the PGMI is running 60 courses in various disciplines of medical science, which include 12 diplomas (minor qualification) and 48 degree courses (major).

PGMI Principal Prof Dr Sardar Al-Fared Zafar has raised the matter with the HEC authorities while writing a letter wherein he declared that it has caused concern among the students and university`s faculty.

He has urged the HEC to review its decision and exempt the PGMI from the condition as mentioned in its notification in the larger interest of the institute and the students.

`The HEC`s decision has had a profound impact on our training system, contributing to heightened anxiety among doctors andthe institute`, reads the letter.

He says the policy will also reduce workforce at LGH, cutting over 200 PG residents annually, inevitably compromising patientcarein one ofthelargest teaching hospitals of the city.

`Given the above facts, I respectfully urge the HEC to promptly consider amending its notification,` the letter says, adding that the shortage of medical universities in Punjab necessitates a reconsideration of the regulations, particularly, for institutions like PGMI.

An official tells Dawn that the institute had been established in 1974 in the building of experimental medicine department of King Edward Medical College, Lahore.

At that time, he says, Lahore General Hospital (LGH) was affiliated to the PGMI with the objectives of providing postgraduate medical education and training to doctors in both clini-cal and basic disciplines following shortage of the medical staff because of the new medical colleges.

In the initial years, the official says, the PGMI had admitted postgraduate students to 23 various basic and clinical courses, and with the passage of time a number of more courses were added.

`This institute caters not only to the needs of Punjab but also of other provinces like Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and GilgitBaltistan`, the official says.

He adds that the PGMI has also provided teaching and training facilities to the students from other countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Iran.

In this way, PGMI has been strengthening ties of friendship with these countries, he says adding that once Allama IqbalMedical College moved out of the premises of its Birdwood Road Campus and the Services Hospital to its new purposebuilt campus, the Birdwood Road Campus and the Services were handed over to the PGMI.

Thus PGMI has two affiliated hospitals then i.e Services Hospital and LGH. It was able to perform its duties of imparting postgraduate teaching and training duties efficiently.

With the establishment of a new undergraduate medical college, the Services Hospital was unaffiliated from PGMI and handed over to the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS). So, the LGH was the sole affiliated hospital of PGMI then, he said. Similarly, Birdwood Road Campus building was also largely taken away from the PGMI.

This seriously affected the postgraduate teaching and training of doctors. He lamented that the blow came at a time when many new medical colleges were being announced and a lot of trained doctors were leaving the country for `greener pastures` and deficiency of trained medical teachers in the basic and clinical disciplines was being felt.

The PGMI kept on teaching and training the future teachers and clinicians with its meagre resources.

In 2010, the then Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif handed over the building of the Birdwood Road Campus back to the PGMI. This building is used to teach and train the students from various basic disciplines of medical science.

`There are 33 basic and clinical departments in the PGMI and the institute is providing optimal teaching and research facilities to its students`, the official says.

Although PGMI had been developing postgraduate syllabi and teaching students for various degree courses since its inception, it was initially affiliated to the Punjab University for final award of degrees and diplomas and later on with the UHS in 2003.

In order to facilitate the postgraduate teaching and training and improve the standards of research, it is strongly felt that PGMI should be given a degreeawarding status.