Sarwar Jamil Siddiqui
The Aga Khan Ãœniversity, Pakistan
Title: Neurology training in Pakistan, a resource limited country - Opportunities and challenges
Biography
Biography: Sarwar Jamil Siddiqui
Abstract
Pakistan is a developing country in Southeast Asia with a population of 210 million. There are about 210 practicing neurologist
in the country at present. Neurology as a specialty in Pakistan started in 1963. To start off with there were 5 neurologists,
all British trained from 1963-1969. Then more neurologists returned from abroad, especially after 1992, mainly trained in the
UK and USA. Intrinsic neurology training program started in 1990 by the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Pakistan. The first
Pakistani trained neurologist qualified in 1995. Since then the College has trained 202 neurologists to date who qualified FCPS
(Neurology) Examination after a 5-year structured training program. About 45 specialists trained in Pakistan are working
in the Middle East, UK and Canada. At present there are 21 approved neurology training centers and 24 approved training
supervisors in the country where over 120 postgraduates are undergoing training. The training includes 2 years in Internal
Medicine followed by a 3-year specialty training in Neurology. In addition to above, universities offer postgraduates programs
in Neurology namely, Diploma in Clinical Neurology (one year program) and MD (Neurology) which is a 3-year training
program in Clinical Neurology. There is a sizeable research contribution in the field of Neurology from Pakistan. The number
of research papers published in peer-reviewed journals from Pakistan was over 140 in 2017 alone.