Family Medicine

    Introduction

    Pakistan is the 5th most populous country in the global ranking with a population of over 230 million. Despite rapid urbanization, a vast majority of Pakistani population still resides in rural or semi urban areas with health care mostly centered around major cities. This results in inadequate health coverage to a majority of population living in rural and semi urban areas and increases the burden on tertiary h ospitals located in the major cities.

    Pakistan has 194,265 Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) and 47,834 specialists. (1) Majority of these RMPs work as general practitioners at primary care level without any  postgraduate training in general practice, (1) which compromises the quality of primary health care services to the people. The Government of Pakistan in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners is moving toward the implementation of Family Practice Model to provide quality health services to people close to where they live, strengthen the referral system and lessen the patient burden on the tertiary hospitals. In the first step, general practitioners are trained as Family Physicians in collaboration with WHO-EMRO.

    Additionally, the Government of Pakistan has recently launched Universal Health Care Package, with vision to provide 80% of patient care at the community and primary health care level. Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has been selected as a model district to implement this package. Family physicians are an integral component of this model.
    Prior to the roll out of universal health coverage package, the Health Services Academy is tasked to train the general practitioners from ICT, on family practice approach. In 2021, 24 students were enrolled at the Health Services Academy in one-year (24 credits) Diploma of Family Medicine. The students were a mix of public and private practitioners, primarily based in Islamabad.
    In July 2021, the HSA and seven educational institutes of Pakistan signed a “Letter of Understanding (LOU)” with the WHO to support the training of family physicians. The LOU led to the change in name of the diploma of Family Medicine to the “ Regional Diploma of Family Medicine ,” which is endorsed by the WHO and the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA). By initiating the Family Medicine, the Health Services Academy strives to improve the standard of care by enhancing the knowledge and skill base of general practitioners so they can provide better patient care, based on core values of family medicine. This includes providing patient centered care by practicing holistically and ethically, that will eventually improve health indicators and quality of life for our population. The family physicians trained by the Health Services Academy will be pioneers in implementing the Universal Health Care Package in the public and private primary health clinics in ICT

    Course Aim

    The diploma aims to introduce doctors to family medicine approach in primary healthcare, in line with international standards. This will act as a bridging course for General Practitioners to improve their current practice while further comprehensive courses are being designed and delivered. 

    Prof. Dr. Shahzad Ali khan

    Disciplines: 

    Health Systems, Health Policy, Health Planning, Health Care Financing ,Health Promotion, Non-communicable Disease Prevention & Control, Hospital Management, Quality Management.

    Research Areas:  

    Social Health protection , Health Insurance , Health system and policy Nutrition , Implementation Research , Health Promotion ,Non Communicable disease prevention, Quality Management.

    Course Objectives

    • Train doctors who can work as family physicians in primary healthcare in line with international standards

    • To familiarize general practitioners with the principles and significance of family practice and family medicine in strengthening Primary Health Care in Pakistan.

    • To understand the role of family physician in Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and train them to promote, prevent and treat a set group of population at primary healthcare level as to deliver Essential Healthcare Package.

    • To introduce various communication skills models to improve communications skills.

    • To introduce the concept of Evidence Based Practice and its application in practice.

    • To illustrate the principles of documentation and medical records management in the context of family practice and UHC.

    • To describe the principles of health promotion and disease prevention as integrated components of the overall healthcare system.

    • To revise the principles of management of common medical problems in primary care.

    Visiting Faculty

    • Dr. Saadia Ashraf

    • Dr.Tehzeeb Zulfiqar

    • Dr.Syed Raza Mehmood Zaidia

    • Dr. Abdul Jalil Khan

    • Dr Hisham Ul Haq

    • Dr Kaashif Ali Samin

    • Dr Hina Javaid

    •  Dr Syed Zulfiqar Ali

    • Dr Paul Dugdale    

    • Dr Jamil Bangash

    • Dr Ejaz

    • Dr. Mariyam Sarfraz

    • Dr Tooba Mazhar

    • Dr Ahmad Hussen Tariq

    • Dr Jawad

    • Dr Hamza Zafar

    • Dr Saqib Jahangir

    • Dr Arsalan Shehzad

    • Dr. Tayyab Saeed Akhtar

    • Dr. Shazia Rehman    

    • Dr.Sarah Ansari

    • Dr Hilary Mcloughlin

    • Dr.Rubina Aman

    • Dr.Raheel Sheikh

    • Dr.Hameedudin Mujtaba Qadri

    • Dr.Aqdas Qazi

    • Dr.Irfan Muneeb

    • Dr.Unab Khan

    • Dr Shehla

    • Dr. Yaseer Masood

    • Dr. Saima Iqbal

    • Dr Maria Khan junaidi

    Pims Islamabad Faculty

    • Prof Shajee Ahmad Siddique

    • Dr Shafqat Khaton

    • Dr Aneeza Jalil 

    • Dr Arsalan Ahmad

    • Dr Saira Kanwal

    • Dr Zaid Waqar

    • Dr Uzma Rasheed

    • Dr Shazia Zammurrad

    • Dr Mariam Masud

    • Dr Niaz Muhammad

    • Dr Sana Wazir

    • Dr Irum Naveed

    • Khalid Riaz

    Maroof International Hospital Faculty

    • Dr. Mir Abdul Waheed

    • Dr. Samina Sheraz

    • Dr. Waqar Hafeez

    • Dr. Sajjad Naseer

    • Dr. M Danish Sarfaraz

    • Dr. Jahanzib Durrani

    • Dr. Yaseer Rehman

    • Dr. Ayesha Amin

    • Dr. Dure Shohab

    • Dr. Omer Mufti

    • Dr. Mustafa Javed Bhalli

    • Dr. Raif Rashid

    • Dr. Kashif Khan

    • Dr. Mumtaz Niazi

    • Dr. Talat Najeeb

    • Dr. Sara Mehmood

    • Dr. Ayesha Niazi

    • Dr. Gulafshana Hafeez Khan

    • Dr. Hassan Masood

    • Prof. M Idress

    • Dr. Aliya Hameed    

    • Dr. Asad Qayyum

    • Dr. Shams Tabreez

    • Dr. Jamal Fazil Rabi

    • Dr Abdul Naeem

    • Dr Osama Ishtiaq

    • Dr.Muslim Atiq

    • Prof. Aslam Shah

      Curelink HealthCare Rawalpindi

    • Dr Wahid Zaman

    • Dr Faisal Farid

    • Dr Abid Malik

    • Dr Amir Khan 

    • Dr Qamar Ali

    • Dr Shahnawaz

    • Dr Shamsa Rizwan

    • Dr Sadia Khan

    Eligibility Criteria

    • M.B.B.S from a P.M.C recognized medical college

    • Valid P.M.C registration

    • One-year House Job in a P.M.C recognized training site

    • Clinical experience of working in public or private primary health care facility will be preferred.

    Saliet Features of Certificate in Family Medicine

    1. Flexible blended approach (face-to-face and online) for public and Private health practitioners

    2. International Curriculum taught by renowned International and National experts through online mediu.

    3. Minimum physical presence will be required and the course will be conducted without affecting practice hours.

    4. The online course content will be followed by discussion forums with the relevant expert to discuss and clear concepts. 

    5. The course is accredited by the World Health Organization.

    Hospitals for Clincical Traniing

    • Pakistan institute of Health Sciences
    • Maroof International Hospital
    • Begum Jan Hospital
    • CureLink Health care Hospital