Aga Khan University has announced the launch of the Centre for Innovation in Medical Education with state-of-the-art resources for national and regional medical education. The foundation ceremony was celebrated on the building’s site on AKU’s Stadium Road campus.
The new centre will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and human patient simulation tools, providing a safe, risk-free environment where medical, nursing and allied health students as well as health care professionals will be able to master everything from routine procedures to complex new techniques before they move on to real patients.
“We are very excited about this new academic centre, because it will enable us to educate the next generation of healthcare professionals, in medicine and nursing and other health fields, at a world class level,” said AKU President Firoz Rasul, presiding over the foundation ceremony. “This Centre will support innovation in pedagogy that will help our students and faculty remain at the forefront in providing care."
CIME will expand the “teaching by doing” curriculum and foster a collaborative network to move innovative ideas from the lab to clinical spaces. Bright minds from across AKU’s campuses will gather to address challenges in healthcare, and interdisciplinary teams will gain access to these labs to create new state-of-the-art techniques and technology to solve topical medical challenges. Through hands-on projects, AKU’s medical, nursing and allied health students will learn about problem solving, as well as the importance of teamwork, collaboration and dealing with adversity - ideal preparation for the demands of the workplace.
“CIME will provide a modern, stimulating atmosphere equal to the excellence of our students and their extraordinary potential” said Dr Farhat Abbas, Dean of the Medical College.
CIME’s global reach will help to transform undergraduate, post graduate and continuing medical education programmes within Pakistan to as far away as Central Asia, East Africa, and the Middle East. Doctors and nurses will benefit, but so will paramedics, dentists, physiotherapists and an array of other specialised health workers who are all critical to overall patient care. The Centre will be utilised by AKU hospitals in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kenya; but it will also be a resource for the wider health services community in the public, non-profit and private sectors. It will be an agent for change at both the national and international levels, a focal point for innovation in teaching and research as it will unleash the potential of students and faculty alike, fuelling ground-breaking discoveries and making a lasting economic impact on Pakistan and the region.
“I have been to universities all over the world; at AKU, this centre will provide a central location where nursing and medical students can innovate and collaborate - a place where they can learn by doing,” added Dr Keith Cash, Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. “We need a place of critical mass and energy where all the disciplines can come together.”
Covering 80,000 square feet of new space, CIME will be located adjacent to the Rufayda Al Aslamiya Building and will be connected to the existing School of Nursing and Midwifery Skills Lab. Construction is expected to take two years allowing the building to welcome its first occupants in 2015. The building will cost US$15 million and is entirely funded by local and foreign philanthropists willing to invest in higher education.
