STAFF REPORT IBD: From colonial times, we are being trained with the purpose of gaining specific skills but not educated to further our knowledge and develop our intellect, said noted scientist Prof. Dr. HR Ahmad from JMDC Medicare Campus and Aga Khan University, Karachi, while delivering a lecture on Research Pathways to a jam-packed hall of medical students and faculty at the University of Health Sciences (UHS).
Referring to Thomas Macaulays conscious policy of liquidating indigenous culture in the subcontinent via the education system, Prof. Ahmad said that the system tended to marginalise inherited learning and has uprooted academics and research from traditional modes of thought to the extent for no space for peoples thinkers and philosophers.
He also said that patient care and teaching were well established components of a medical career, however, with the passage of time the component of research had started to influence the medical culture.
“Research is the re-charger for the batteries of teaching and patient care otherwise both become routine work with the passage of time,” he emphasised.
Prof. Ahmad further said that the research activity of an institution is directly proportional to the number of qualified and committed PhD scholars.
He maintained that an inspiring infrastructure, laboratory facilities and libraries are pre-requisites for a research culture to grow in order to sustain the generation cycle of an institution.