Improving quality of education
President for improving quality of medical education, introducing uniform syllabi
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday underscored the need for improving the quality of medical education as well as introducing uniform syllabi to establish an education standard in the field of medicine.
The President, chairing the 5th meeting of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad (SZABMU), at Aiwan-e-Sadr, said medical institutions needed to produce more nursing and para-medical staff to cater to the health needs of the country. SZABMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Tanwir Khaliq, members of the Senate, and faculty attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, the president emphasized the need for developing partnerships with foreign universities to get access to foreign courses and educational content through online education. He said establishing partnerships and linkages with foreign universities was the fastest way to improve the quality of education in the country. He also called for focusing on the prevention of diseases that was far easier and cheaper as compared to curative treatment and would also help reduce the disease burden on the country’s health infrastructure.
SZABMU should be an exemplary institution and role model for others in the medical sector, he said, adding medical institutions should also focus on inculcating the spirit of serving humanity among their graduates. The SZABMU Vice-Chancellor briefed the president about the initiatives taken by the university for promoting medical education. Professor Dr Rizwan Taj informed the meeting that measures were being taken to increase the number of nurses in the country.
The meeting endorsed the minutes of the 4th Senate meeting held on March 18, 2022. The meeting also approved the appointment of two deans, Prof Dr Rana Imran Sikandar and Prof Dr Moosa Khan as members of the syndicate under the SZABMU Act 2013.
President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday asked the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) to increase its outreach and raise awareness about its role in providing speedy justice to the people against the maladministration of tax authorities in matters relating to income tax, customs duties, sales tax, and federal excise duty. The president said this wile talking to Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Dr Asif Mahmood Jah, who called on him to present the FTO’s Annual Report for the year 2022, here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Highlighting the salient features of the report, Dr Asif Mahmood Jah said the FTO received 7,000 complaints during 2022 as compared to 2,816 complaints in the year 2021, and 6,500 of them were disposed of. The FTO highlighted that tax refund claims to the tune of Rs 7 billion were decided and the due amount was paid to the aggrieved taxpayers by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). He said 78% of the FTO’s decisions had been implemented and he was personally monitoring the implementation of decisions on a daily basis.
President Alvi appreciated the performance of FTO in enhancing its outreach and providing relief to aggrieved taxpayers against the maladministration and high-handedness of tax officials.
