KARACHI, Dec 16: Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim on Friday urged medical scientists to come out with more solutions towards prevention and cure of human diseases.

Speaking at the three-day symposium of Hamdard University on “Emerging trends in healthcare” at a local hotel, Arbab Rahim said that efforts should be made to further harness the science of medicines, including the modern and conventional systems, to benefit the mankind at large.

Appreciating the participation of delegates from Karachi and abroad in the symposium, he said that seminars and symposia were always an excellent opportunity to all those associated with medical profession to share their experiences and to exchange their knowledge and skill. The scientific discussions would help in further enhancing our knowledge of recent advances in number of medical disciplines, he added.

The chief minister noted that the theme of the symposium was aimed at generating maximum ideas and motivating the participants to come out with some solution, thus, helping the mankind. He said that since the eastern medicine system and production of herbal drugs were being accepted by the western countries, there was a need to improve the eastern medicine system in the country by undertaking relevant researches.

Referring to the services of late Hakim Said, the founder of Hamdard University, he said that Hakim sahib was the most respected personality of Karachi. He was not only a man of hikmat, but also earned honours as scholar, educationist and social leader of no match.

He said that the HU was the largest university in private sector sharing a major burden of providing higher education to the poor community. Hakeem Said’s vision was to raise the literacy rate to cent per cent, for which he established the city of education, Madinatul Hikma, he added.

Maj-Gen Iftikhar A. Malik, Principal of Foundation University Medical College, Rawalpindi, delivered Hakim Mohammad Said Memorial Lecture on “Nanotechnology and Medicine”, as a part of the symposium. He talked especially with reference to an emerging revolution in medicine and biotechnology and related fields.

He said that nanotechnology was the study and manufacture of devices of molecular dimensions, in the range of nanometres or one-billionth of a mater. Predicted by a Nobel Laureate Dr Richard Feynman in one of his lectures in 1959, nanotechnology was a new scientific field with many possible uses in 21st century and the medicine being just one of them, he mentioned.

He said that nanotechnology in nature was not less than the molecular machines. It was by organizing individual atoms and molecules into particular configurations, that these “molecular machines” in nature were able to create works of astonishing complexity and size, such as the human beings, he added.

Talking about recent advancement in medicine, he said that nanotechnology represented an approach similar to biotechnological processes. He observed that at present the future of nanotechnology in medicine seemed rather unclear, but it would certainly have a significant impact on the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of medical care of patients in the years to come.

Hamdard Foundation President Sadia Rashid held the symposium an event of great significance and hoped that it would contribute towards improvement in the filed of medicines. She also informed the audience about the rescue and restoration works carried out by the HU teams in quake-affected areas.

HU Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqbal Qureshi said that an improvement in population health would add significant momentum to the forces of economic development and poverty reduction.

Prof Aley Hasan Zaidi, principal of Hamdard College of Medicines and Dentistry, said that there would be 18 scientific sessions on Saturday and Sunday. He said five workshops related to symposium had already been conducted.

Dr Navaid-ul Zafar and Dr Saleem also spoke.