Prof Dr Javed Iqbal
President

History of Punjab Medical College Faisalabad, Pakistan. (PMC)..... NOW & THEN

             This prestigious medical institution came into existence 34 years ago in a remote corner of Agriculture University Faisalabad. It was a novel happening in the annals of Medical history that two medical institutions came into being in the same building like twins by the stroke of luck. The other twin that is Rawalpindi Medical College was later shifted to its designated place and location at Rawalpindi, in November 1974.

             The Punjab Medical College started its own journey under the able and ebullient guidance of Prof. M.H. Toosi. Dr.Toosi was a scholarly man with a wide experience of medical education and possessed great qualities of heart and mind.

 The college began its academics with a single lecture theatre known as Kissan hall. The times were difficult and environment harsh. The challenge was daunting. The response of the academic staff was glorious and brilliant. The history of that period in the life of our beloved college when written will provide a stimulating and exciting reading. It will show the great spirit and untiring efforts of the staff of those tying and difficult days

After the scholarly Prof. M., H. Toosi, the era of renowned pathologist Prof. Dr. F.M. Chaudhry started with a lot of reforms and development. He had a mammoth target before him that of building the college campus along with Allied Hospital. With great and untiring efforts, he succeeded in completing both the projects.

After his retirement, Prof. Dr. Anis Mahju took over as Principal of the institution, whose main focus was to upgrade the quality of education and strengthening of academic facilities. This, he was able to achieve with distinction. He breathed his last neither in his bed nor in his chair but in his prayer.

Later on, Prof. Dr. Zafar Chaudhary took the chair of Principal. Afterwards college was drowned into the darkness of turmoil and uncertainty for 3 years.

During this period of turmoil Prof Dr Munawer Zaheen, Professor of Gynecology serving in Lahore was given additional charge of Principal PMC, which ended in the dawn of the Principal ship of Prof. Obaid Ullah Khawaja.

The college was granted autonomy in July 1999 with a Board of Governors and Mian Mohammhad Hanif, a renowned industrialist was the first Chairman. Later, a Board of Management (BOM) was constituted with Mian Muhammad Lateef, of Chenab group of industries as the Chairman. Currently he is the Chairman, and is continuing till today.

            College Staff and students welcomed the change with great zeal and passion. Prof. Dr. Obaid Ullah Khawaja was the Chief Executive as well as the Principal of the college.   

               After retirement of Prof Khawaja, a retired Military Administrator, Major Gen(R) Dr Gafhoor Shah was appointed as CEO and Dean of the College and Prof A G Rehan was designated as Deputy Dean. Due to severe resentment of the faculty, CEO left and the post of Principal was restored. Prof A G Rehan was appointed as   the   CEO / Principal of College and allied hospitals

Under his leadership a record number of development projects were completed and academic targets were achieved. A sizeable number of graduates passed USMLE with high scores and one student scored 99.1% in recent past. Prof Rehan worked day in day out for the betterment of this institution.

              Frequent strikes and unruly behavior came to a halt through persuasion and education of students. Presently PMC has highly experienced, dedicated and goal oriented teachers. It is notable that most of the faculty members are the senior most teachers in the whole of the province both in the basic sciences and on clinical side.

Prof Rehan retired after serving for four years as Principal on 26^th May 2007.

Currently, Prof Asghar Ali Randhawa is the Principal of the College. During his tenure lot of developmental are under way especially on hospital side. He was successfully able to get approved the state of art BURN UNIT within Allied Hospital. It is under construction these days.

 Recently Government has decided to start classes in Dental Surgery leading to BDS degree. PMC also has a School of nursing which awards BSc.  (Nursing) degree. Furthermore College of Paramedics is also functioning under PMC administration.

Due to a decision from Supreme Court open merit Policy and entry test has been started. Currently there are 900 girls and 350 boys studying in the College.

According to recent survey the campus of PMC has been declared as one of the most beautiful and eye catching among all medical college campuses in the country.

In 2002, the Provincial Government decided to affiliate all Medical Colleges with the newly established University of Health Sciences (UHS), which is now one of the best ranking universities in Pakistan It is setting very high standards of transparency and introducing new methods of examinations like MCQ/ SEQ/ OSCE and OSPE and one question - one paper assessor system and central marking. Its reflection is evident by the very high scores of students in USMLE.

             Punjab Medical College has two hospitals on its teaching panel namely Allied Hospital (1100 beds) and DHQ Hospital (600 beds). Allied Hospital has all the modern equipment and new technology for teaching as well as healing purposes. It is pertinent to point out that a new state of the art burn Unit is being established in Allied Hospital.

             The students of this institution have secured many times the prestigious positions in the UHS. The postgraduate students (for FCPS, MD, MS) are also being trained on a large scale in the respective recognized departments. This institution is providing excellent health care to the people of many districts of this province since 1974. 

FAISALABAD AT A GLANCE

Our city has many institutions of excellence and a university (UAF) which is one of the oldest universities of the subcontinent. To count some of the institutions are

1.            There are three Medical Colleges in the city.

2.            The University of Agriculture.

3.            The Government College University

4.            The University of Faisalabad (TUF)

5.            The National Textile University

6.            The University of Engineering & Technology (Faisalabad Campus)

7.            NFC Institute of Chemical Engineering

8.            National Institute of Biological and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE)

9.            Punjab Institute of Nuclear Medicine (PINUM)

10.          National Institute of Agriculture &Biology (NIAB)

11.          Regional Center of College of Physicians & Surgeons (CPSP)

12.          Faisalabad Institute of Research, Science & Technology (FIRST)

13.       Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology (FIC)