OTR
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A Historic and Memorable |
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October 7th 2020 was a historic and memorable day in the history of medical journalism in Pakistan. For me it was a dream come true as twenty three graduates who had qualified the first Course in Medical Editing a joint project of UHS and PAME were presented their certificates while the second batch also started their training the same day. It was their first day of the first four day contact session.
Pakistan, it may be mentioned here has become the second country in the WHO EMRO Region after Islamic Republic of Iran and UHS has become the second university in the EMRO region to have started this training course for medical editors. Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, it may be recalled was the first one to start an MSc programme in medical journalism in 2009 for Iran and for overseas candidates in 2017. It was initiated by Dr. Behrooz Astaneh Editor of Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences who is also a Council Member of Committee of Publication Ethics UK.
This also provided us an opportunity to remember and thank our senior medical editors who have made significant contributions in promoting the art of Medical Writing and Scientific Publishing but were no more with us. Hence special prizes for the First, Second and Third Position worth Twenty Five Thousand rupees each were arranged in their memory which were sponsored by M/’s Atco Laboratories a friend of PAME.
The first Position and prize named after late Dr. Sarwar J. Zuberi former Chief Editor of JPMA was shared by Dr. Saima Chaudhry from UHS and Prof. Col. Alamgir Khan from Army Medical College Rawalpindi. They both were presented prize money of Rs. twenty five thousand. The second position and prize of Rs. 25,000/- in the name of Dr. Maqbool H. Jafary former Chief Editor of Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences was earned by Dr. Shamaila Mohsin also from Army Medical College Rawalpindi. The third position and prize in the name of late Prof.Tahir Saeed Haroon former President of PMJA later renamed as PAME who also served as editor of Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatologists for few years which was also worth Rs. 25,000/- was won by Prof. S. H. Waqar Editor of Annals of PIMS Islamabad. Efforts will be made to make the presentation of prizes to position holders in the days to come as well.
Dr. Noori Kiran Haris Assistant Prof. of Medical Education at AFMDC who is also affiliated with Journal of Aziz Fatema Medical & Dental College was the proud recipient of late Dr. Maqbool H.Jafary Memorial Scholarship worth Rs. twenty five thousand. This scholarship is awarded to one junior editor every year. This was started by Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences in 2015 to recognize the contributions made to promote the art of medical writing and scientific publishing by late Dr. Maqbool H. Jafary founder Chief Editor of the Journal who also served as President of EMAME.