LAHORE: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has upheld the title of professor for leading neurosurgeon Dr Asif Bashir while declaring him as a professor of neurosurgery as he fulfilled the prerequisite experience to attain the said status.
As per the details, PMDC has recognised Dr Asif’s nine-years teaching experience in the United States (US) as an assistant professor, associate professor and professor in the field of neurosurgery as he has served at various key posts in the US before coming back to Pakistan to serve the public sector.
The council has considered five of his numerous research publications in PMDC approved journals with full credit while declaring him eligible for the post of professor of neurosurgery. The latest notification of PMDC that is being headed by a retired Supreme Court judge these days has superseded all previous notifications of the council on the subject.
It is worth mentioning here that Dr Asif is currently serving as a neurosurgeon at Lahore General Hospital (LGH)/ Punjab Institute of Neurosciences (PINS) where his services were lauded by former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif during the inauguration of PINS a few weeks ago. He has also worked as a director as well as professor of neurosurgery and neuroscience at Seton Hall University-Hackensack’s Meridian School of Medicine, New Jersey and despite the fact that Dr Asif held a prestigious position in the US, he went through the selection process of Punjab Public Service Commission for the said post in order to serve the public sector after coming back to Pakistan last year.
Besides being a diplomat at American Board of Neurological Surgery, Dr Asif also has an active licensure for New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Among his postgraduate training/fellowships are Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA, Complex Spinal surgery: Neuro/Ortho Spine: Syracuse, NY, Chief Resident Neurosurgery: SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY & Paediatric neurosurgery resident at Harvard Medical School, Children Hospital Boston, US.
He is also considered an authority on minimally invasive keyhole spine surgery, endoscopic neurosurgery as well as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and Gamma Knife as certified by the US.
Son of an acclaimed Pakistani neurosurgeon, the late Prof Bashir Ahmad, Dr Asif is considered as one of the most qualified spine and neurosurgeons in the country, who has successfully performed numerous procedures at LGH/PINS free of cost. His father, the late Prof Bashir Ahmad, was a pioneer of neurosurgery in Pakistan, who founded the neurosurgery department at LGH some 55 years ago. Dr Qasim Bashir, brother of Dr Asif Bashir is also one of the leading neurologists of the country who is serving as the president of Pakistan Stroke Society.
