Daily Times

The establishment of medical colleges or universities of the world are aimed to play a key role in the health sector of a nation through research and innovation and play their due roles in the development of the a nation because health and education sectors are among the most important sectors in the journey of national development.

Bolan Medical College (BMC) is the oldest medical college of Balochistan which was established in 1972 in order to tackle the health issues and produce manpower for the health sectors of the province. According to its website, BMC claims to have 33 qualified MBBS batches with 5,683 doctors, and BMC started its BDS classes in 1985 and the college claims to have 17 qualified batches with 285 BDS doctors for the people of Balochistan.

Currently, BMC is one of the medical and dental colleges which are run under the Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences (BUMHS), Quetta. Including BMC, five medical colleges of Balochistan; Dental Section of Bolan Medical College, Quetta; Makran Medical College, Turbat Kech; Jhalawan Medial College, Khuzdar and Loralahi Medical College, Loralahi, also are run under BUMHS.

After 47 years of establishment of BMC, today we see it circulating with lots of solvable academic issues. The duration of 47 years is enough time for growth of a medical college. If the BMC principals, teachers and administration along with the health department of Balochistan could have made long-lasting plans then today BMC could have a number of best post-doctoral professors. It should be a shame for the guardians of BMC which faces deficiency of doctoral teachers.

The insincerity and dishonesty of BMC administration and majority of teachers has badly affected the health sector of Balochistan. It is a humble request to the federal government of Paksitan to look into this issue with sincerity and urgency because charges of BMC are with the Governor of Balochistan. Your failure to solve the academic issues of BMC will further increase the backwardness of health sector of Balochistan

The medical sector worldwide has reached its peak of advancement where the medical scientists have made almost all the lethal diseases like cancer curable. But it is very regrettable that in the 21st century BMC lacks the basic facilities and machineries for teaching and treatment purposes, and the people of Balochistan have lost faith and hope in authorities of health sectors to rescue them in time of need. And today there is not any satisfactory measure which should be taken for the growing number of cancer cases in Balochistan including the other treatable disorders.

A medical college is one of the most important educational institutions for a nation which should have been given full focus and attention, but in case of BMC I don’t see favorable attention in the academic development of BMC where four to five month delays are seen in its entry tests. Rest of the medical colleges and universities of Pakistan take their entry tests in September or October, but BMC (BUMHS) takes its entrance test in February. Similar delays are seen in commencement of classes of new and old batches.

On the other hand, there is a very surprising and illogical method of examination and viva where 90 percent of the class faces annual and supple (supplementary). It is understandable that few students can be dull and not able to secure their year, but it is very illogical that 90 percent of the classes are incapable and dull which cannot clear their examination of one year.

A single month is important for a medical student because he/she has to pass a very lengthy journey starting from tough and competitive entrance test to five year MBBS and four year BDS profs including the four to five years of FSPS (specialization) including the other mandatory tests and exams.

This delay is also seen in provision of the scholarships which are announced with the delay of two years after the admission a student. But it is perceived that teachers themselves aren’t sincere with their job and the dishonesty of teaching staff including the BMC administration has ruined the 47-year-old BMC.

Today, students of BMC are suffering from depression due to delays in their examinations and classes, because these delays convert their five year MBBS and four year BDS programs into a program of six to eight years in its initials stages. Many medical students have reportedly committed suicides in medical colleges of other provinces and I am severely concerned with the precious lives of BMC students because they are the future of the nation.

The insincerity and dishonesty of BMC administration and majority of teachers has badly affected the health sector of Balochistan. It is a humble request to the federal government of Paksitan to look into this issue with sincerity and urgency because charges of BMC are with the Governor of Balochistan. Your failure to solve the academic issues of BMC will further increase the backwardness of health sector of Balochistan.

This overall scenario of BMC is ticking me off with a question that if the BMC teachers and the administration have failed to run a single college successfully after long duration of nearly 5 decades, then I’m worried about how will they run the BUMHS.

The writer is an M.Phil student at Mass Communication Department, University of Karachi

Published in Daily Times, February 11^th 2019.