News
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Universities research must focus on common man: governor* Says universities doing research on many things but all this is kept locked and people are not benefitted
KARACHI: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan on Thursday asked all universities in the province to focus the common man and link their research to them as the prime beneficiary of the research and innovations.
“I would urge the universities in Sindh and in the country as a whole that there must be linkage between their research and the common man. Their focus should be welfare of the general public,” he said while speaking at foundation stone laying ceremony of Dow Life Sciences Institute (DLSI) under Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), here at the Governor House. The governor unveiled the foundation stone there.
Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan, Vice Chancellor of DUHS Prof Masood Hameed Khan were also present.
Dr Khan said the universities had been doing research on many things but all this was kept locked and the people were not benefitted. He also underlined the need for self-expansion of the universities and to come up new products aimed at socio-economic uplift of the people, and the country’s economic prosperity and development.
The governor noted that Dow Medical College had grown up to the university and set up many facilities, including diagnostic centre. He praised the hard work and commitment of vice chancellor of DUHS for making this university a big success.
He also congratulated the DUHS vice chancellor on establishment of DLSI, which would have very good impact on the common man.
This institute would do research on bio-technology/sero-biological products including anti-snake biting venom (ASV). In Pakistan, only National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad is producing this venom.
45,000 vials were being imported every year, which cost Rs 670,000. There is big demand for anti-snake venom (ASV) especially in rural areas of Sindh and Balochistan, he said.
The governor said that vision of Prof Masood very rightly embraced this alarming situation. Prof Masood and his team of doctors have come up with a practical solution in this regard. This shows that our doctors and experts have creative minds and they only need resources and favourable environment.
He said that the government has always been encouraging research at university level and it is the need of the hour for a progressive and competitive nation.
Earlier, vice chancellor DUHS highlighted the activities and achievements of the university since 2004, when DMC was upgraded to the university.
He also spoke of the goals of this new institute, DLSI, which is being established Rs 250 million cost with estimated time period of 18 months. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk