KARACHI- Pakistan Islamic Medical Association was established in October 1979. Since its inception PIMA has been pursuing numerous developmental goals for producing better professionals. They regularly conduct lectures, seminars and workshops throughout the country aiming to enhance knowledge and expertise. Recently this vibrant association organized its annual conference, in collaboration with Pakistan Dental Association, at the Pearl Continent Hotel in Karachi.
During the conference, PIMA had also arranged a Dental session parallel to their medical convention, bringing the best of both worlds under one roof. The key importance of holding this dental session in the PIMA congress was the ever increasing needs and demands of Continuing Dental Education, in collaboration with the medical professionals. The congress provided an ideal forum to gain access to the prestigious association and will open doors for upcoming dental professionals.
Dental fraternity from all over the country were invited to share and enlighten the audience with their knowledge and experience. The chosen theme of the conference was “The best among Mankind is the one with the most benefit to Mankind”
In order to enlighten the audience with state-of-the-art medical and dental knowledge, outstanding, nationally recognized speakers in all fields of dentistry were invited including; Prof Dr Navid Rashid (President of PDA), Dr Dinaz Ghandhi, Dr Sameer Qureshi and Dr Arshad Hasan.
The session was chaired by Prof Shakir - Dean Faculty of Dentistry at Dow Dental College and Dr Naheed Najmi - Head of Department of Operative Dentistry and Vice Principal of LCMD.
Around 200 participants, inclusive of students, house officers, post graduate trainees, general dental practitioners and specialists attended the conference. It was a two hours long, evening session commencing. The president of PIMA, Dr Sohail Ahmed showed his devotion to the association by personally attending all the lectures.
Prof Dr Navid Rashid was kind enough to impart his valuable knowledge on the topic; “The traits of a good dentist“. He stressed on the importance of a good character and qualities such as punctuality, honesty and ethics. His message was well received by the fresh and enthusiastic dentists present at the conference.
Dr Dinaz Ghandhi- Associate Professor and Head of Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, was the next speaker. She elaborately spoke about “The Radiographic interpretation of Systemic diseases”. Her rich clinical experience & context-based knowledge helped the audience learn the process of providing better diagnosis and care to the patients.
Next, Dr. Sameer Qureshi- Asst. Prof. & Incharge of Department of Prosthodontics, Fatima Jinnah Dental College, took the podium & his topic of presentation was “Implant planning in the Aesthetic Zone”. His topic sparked an interest in many a dentists planning to pursue a career in Implantology.
Last speaker at the event was Dr Arshad Hasan- Associate Prof. & HoD at Dow Dental College, who shared his thorough knowledge and experience in the field of restorative dentistry, to enlighten the audience on “the excellence in restorative dentistry”.
The session ended with a few words of wisdom by the respected Chair - Prof Shakir, who humbly thanked the speakers for enriching the event. He specially thanked the moderator of the session, Dr Tahera Ayub- Asst Prof of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, for her tremendous effort in facilitating the session and making it a platform for experienced and emerging dentists to interact & share their learnings for the enhancement of their clinical knowledge.
PIMA awarded the speakers and the guest of honour, a traditional Sindhi shawl, ajrak as their token of appreciation. The participants were allotted 1 CME hour, certified by DOW University of Health Sciences.
All in all, events like this should be organized at regular intervals to make it possible for the dental fraternity to gather & impart up-to-date clinical understanding for the professionals.
