July 19, 2012
The first batch graduating from the Dow International Medical College (DIMC) received their degrees from Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khan at a convocation held at the Sindh Governor's House.
Speaking on the occasion,Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, who is the chancellor of the Dow University Health Sciences, said that he was happy to have been in a position to upgrade his alma mater to a university and to see how it had been flourishing.
"I gave the approval just one year after taking over the governor's office. The first batch at DIMC was admitted in June 2007 and passed out this month exactly after five years," he said.
Professor Masood Hameed Khan thanked the Governor Sindh for upgrading the Dow Medical College to a university in Dec 2003. "And in Jan 2004, I was appointed the principal. Now, in 2012, I feel proud to inform that DUHS has established 39 institutions, which have also started producing graduates in medicine, dental surgery, nursing, etc.," he said.
Providing more details about the institutions and medical facilities, he said the university and its faculties always focused on research.
The vice chancellor also informed the audience that all the 500 students at DIMC were children of overseas Pakistanis.
Earlier, the first student of this first batch, Dr Faisal Chaudhry, in his valedictorian speech, said: "We would also like to remember those whom we lost during our five-year journey... and they include some faculty members, some parents and our batch mate, Minal Jamshed.
We have learnt so much other than just medicine in these five years. Once we understood the responsibility on our shoulders, we knew we would succeed in whatever we did. We wanted to prove ourselves worthy of being a Dow student so we didn't quit despite all odds."
He thanked the teachers for spending so much time and making great efforts on making them doctors. On behalf of his batch mates, he also thanked the parents for their sacrifices with the promise of not letting them down.
Congratulating the young doctors, DIMC Principal Prof Junaid Ashraf said that with their degree, they had now joined 18,000 Dowittes. He also shared how seven years back they had presented the plan for founding DIMC to the Sindh governor at this very place.
"And this is the first time for any Dow convocation to be held at the Governor's House," he said.
Nida Arshad Usman, Syeda Ghalia Fatima, Arhana Fatima, Urooj Ali Khan and Nimra Iftikhar Baig were awarded medals for having passed with distinction.
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