An estimated 35 per cent female students of medical colleges never start their professional career after graduation due to different social constraints in Pakistan.

There is an urgent need for launching online family physicians' courses to bring this pool of medical fraternity back in profession.

Founding Vice Chancellor, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Prof Dr Masood Hameed, while talking to media, said that the female medical students occupied the general merit seats in public sector medical colleges and got subsidy from government but after completing their education they never started their professional career.

He informed the media that an estimated 35 female medical students out of 100 left medical profession after completing the graduation due to family and other social constraints. He further said that students who got admissions to medical colleges on general merit seats get subsidy of around Rs0.6 million in fee per year, so they complete their MBBS only after a government subsidy of around Rs3 million. Unfortunately, after completion of their medical course, most of the female medical graduates never work.

Prof Masood Hameed said that admission ratio of female medical students in medical colleges on general merit seats is high as compared to male in the country; thus there was an urgent need of introducing online family physicians' courses to bring this pool of medical fraternity back in profession.

He said that government and families had spent millions of rupees on medical education, training and skill development of lady doctors annually but quitting medical profession was having a terrible impact on national healthcare system.

He said DUHS management has designed a special online family physician course for such female doctors to pull that pool of doctors back in profession. He said that DUHS will issue certificates to female doctors after successful completion tailor made online courses and such doctors can run family physician clinics at their homes. -PPI