The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) announced the launch of the Pakistan College of General Practitioners (PCGP) on Saturday.
“The college plans to teach and train in areas unique to general practice with national and international perspectives to match the demand and meet international standards with training and assessment,” DUHS Vice Chancellor Prof Masood Hameed Khan said at a press briefing.
“The duration of the PCGP programme is about two years. It shall also adopt various structured programs for our local needs and have collaborations and accreditations as per requirements. The PCGP shall run its affairs by a faculty, a council and various bodies, committees and will conduct examinations as per standard of medical profession. The PCGP shall offer diploma, membership or fellowship status to successful participants after assessment as per schedule.”
The DUHS vice chancellor said that the aim of the programme is to prepare specialist general practitioners from the existing medical practitioners for the social and sustainable change in the practice of general medicine uniformly at the national level and also meet international standards. “The programme has been planned for the competency of general practitioners for education leadership, adult learning, instructions, assessment, curriculum, programme evaluation and education research.”
Khan said that trained general practitioners will take better care of patients and will play an important role in running the affairs of community health in an efficient, continuous, preventive, cost-effective and economical way. “General practitioners can revive the trust of people in the health system and profession after going through this programme. They can also provide their services in primary health care centres, basic health care centres and tertiary care hospitals. The structured training programme for general practitioners will also help in developing knowledge, skill and competency of the administration and implementation of healthcare policies.”
Dr Muhammad Yayha from the FRACGP said that trained general practitioners will be able to meet all their objectives. “The main objective of this programme is to identify academic areas of gaps that need further improvement to maintain evidenced-based change for follow up and adoption. General practitioners will evaluate the outcomes in their practice and carry out peer review system. They can also evaluate process of students’ assessment in order to make valid and reliable decisions for their choice to be a general practitioner. They can also have effective leadership, high quality teaching, facilitation skills and teamwork capabilities at the institutional level. During research on international issues related to general practitioners, they can provide evidence-based solutions and suggest implementation.”
