DOW HISTORY

The Dow Medical College is situated in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the oldest medical college in sindh, and the second oldest in the country. Over the years more than 15,000 doctors have graduated from the Dow Medical College and currently continue to excel in the field of Medicine, both inside the country and abroad. The College was first established in 1881, in Hyderabad, sindh within the premises of Civil Hospital, for the training of licentiate Physicians, drawn from the local population.

Before the independence, in 1941, the Indian Medical Council in order to introduce a uniform standard of medical education either abolished or raised many medical schools to a university level. Through the untiring efforts of Dr. Holmisted, the medical school at Hyderabad was granted a status of a degree college in 1941 by the government of Sind. The same year the government of Sind appointed a committee to implement this decision and to explore the feasibility of moving this medical school from Hyderabad to Karachi.

In 1943, this committee which consisted of: Dr. Hermends R. Wadhwani, the then Minister of Public Health; Col. J. E. gray, the then Inspector General of civil hospitals; and Mr. Abhichand, the then Executive Engineer, developed the plans for the Dow Medical College. Major ( Later Lt. Col. ) Aziz K. M. Khan continued this project during the absence of Col. Gray. The college was inaugurated by Governor Sir Francis Moodie of Sind in Hyderabad in 1945. The first batch of the admitted students consisted of forty-five students among which there was a Muslim girl student named Ms. Fahmida Shaikh.

The foundation stone of the new building was laid in Karachi on December 10, 1945 by Sir Hugh Dow, the then Governor of Sind, after whom this medical college was named. The medical college was transferred from Hyderabad to Karachi on December 31, 1945. It was temporarily housed in the N.J.V. High School building. Dow Medical College started functioning in the new building in the November of 1946. In the December of 1946, Bombay University's team of inspectors recommended to continue its affiliation for the pre-clinical years and a conditional affiliation for the clinical subjects.

In 1947, when Pakistan gained its independence, Dow Medical College came under University of Sind's jurisdiction. A new committee was appointed by the University of Sind. It visited the institution on December 22nd 1947 and recommended full affiliation. It remained under Government of Sind until the central government took over on July 8, 1951.

Pakistan Medical and Dental Council gave its recognition to the college in 1953. On March 7, 1962, it came under the jurisdiction of West Pakistan Government. With the dissolution of "One Unit", Sind Government assumed its control again on June 30, 1970. In 1953, the Student Union was established by the students. Prior to this the student union activities were largely run by the college staff. The Constitution of the Student Union of Dow Medical College was drafted by Mr. Sarwer and Mr. Sulaiman Karatela. The elections were held and Mr. Rehman Ali Hashmi was elected the first President of the Student Union. During this tenure, the constitution was approved by the Principal and the General Body of students. The role of Student Union had been vital in shaping of Dow's activities. It provided a venue for cultural, political and creative activities in arts and literature on a national level The Student Union also established a lending library in 1952, initially with only a handful of books which later grew to be a big source of books for the students.

In 1961, College Mosque was built. In 1968, Arag Auditorium was built with the efforts of Surgeon A. Rahim. In 1973, the Main Auditorium, the new medical library and common room building were established. The Main Auditorium was later named after Prof. Khawaja Moin. The last major addition to Dow medical College was the "Hygiene Block" building in 1981.

Currently a major project of modernization of the college is in progress. The whole Library system has been renovated with the addition of the latest audio-visual equipments, computers and multimedia learning resources for the medical students. Also there will be Medline search and Internet capabilities available for the students. Its Library also boasts of the Hussein el Gezairy Corner, which is fast becoming a repository of all WHO publications. Furthermore, Dow Medical College Library welcomes all medical researchers to make free use of its resources.

All basic science departments have been extensively renovated, with the latest laboratory facilities. The Department of Anatomy boasts of one of the best Plastic Museum in the country. All these departments have in them facilities for under-graduate students as well as postgraduate research. Each department has its own laboratory, tutorial rooms, and a full compliment of faculty members.

Dow Medical College is one of the four medical institutions in the country to be selected to pilot a major change in the existing under-graduate curriculum, and is the sole institution to have successfully tested Community Oriented Medical Education program. Currently it has two tertiary care hospitals attached to it, namely Civil Hospital Karachi and Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital Karachi. The combined bed strength of 2200, and a staff of over 235 faculty members, makes it the largest academic medical institution in the country.

Dow Medical College is a constitute college of the Dow University of Health Sciences, established on 29th December 2003.

References

• Article by Dr. Mehta A. Khan (late), published in DOGANA directory
• Professor M. Shari Quash, Ex-Principal, Dow Medical College
• History of DMC, an article in 6th annual convocation magazine, 1980
• Pakmed.net