A press release here on Friday said the college had been set up at UHS Institute of Learning Emergency Medicine and would be affiliated with National Ambulance College, Dublin, Ireland. It will provide training facilities to rescuers and paramedics of Rescue 1122 and Edhi Ambulance Service.
Initially, a one year certification course has been introduced for emergency medical technicians. The Irish visiting faculty will provide the training facilities in Pakistan; whereas, Director Advanced Paramedic of National Ambulance Service College, Dublin, will act as the director of the newly-established college.
The emergency medical technician course offered by the college will consist of three modules and candidates will be selected after interview by Irish experts. There will be examinations at the end of every module and students will have to do one year compulsory internship at recognized hospitals after the final examination.
No discrimination: A spokesman of the University of Health Sciences (UHS), in a press release here on Friday, said that no discrimination was being done with candidates from southern Punjab regarding admissions to public sector medical and dental colleges of the province.
Dispelling impression being created by some political elements, the spokesman said for the last four consecutive years the candidates from far-flung and under-developed districts of southern Punjab had been outshining the students from central and northern parts of the province in medical colleges admissions. Merit is the only criterion for admission to any medical or dental college, he emphasized.
He said according to statistics, the percentage of candidates admitted from the districts of southern Punjab vis-ΰ-vis from other areas was 11.51 per cent in 2009 and 11.63 per cent in 2010. In contrast, the percentage of candidates admitted from central Punjab had been 10.27 and 9.63 and those from northern Punjab were 7.29 and 8.51 in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Moreover, according to population-wise analysis, the percentage of students admitted from southern Punjab last year was 0.00404 as compared to 0.00362 and 0.00378 for central and northern parts of the province respectively, he added.
The spokesman further said that in 2010, total number of candidates admitted from Multan was 180, Muzaffargarh 144, Dera Ghazi Khan 92, Bahawalpur 72, Bahawalnagar 52, Rajanpur 33, Lodhran 32 and Bhakkar 36. On the contrary, he added, only 133 candidates from Rawalpindi and 48 from Islamabad could get admission to public sector medical colleges of the province last year.
The UHS spokesman also refuted allegation that the weightage of entrance test marks was increased by University of Health Sciences. He clarified that the University of Health Sciences was following the weightage formula of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council in compliance with the directive of apex courts.
