King Edward Medical University


King Edward Medical University is a medical university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1860, the university is named after Edward VII.
Established by the British Raj, named as Lahore Medical School. In 1868, the University of Dublin granted students of the Lahore Medical School ”privilege similar to the granted to students from English schools”. In 1871, the university added Mayo Hospital as an affiliated hospital, replacing the existing Anarkali Dispensary. The same year the college became an affiliate of University of the Punjab, while in 1887, the university added Lady Aitchison Hospital as a second teaching hospital.
After Pakistan's independence, the university became the only medical college in the country and in 2005 became a charter to award degrees in its own right. It has since gone through expansion, and overseas seven tertiary referral hospitals including the Lady Willingdon Hospital.
In 2015, HEC published 5th ranking of Pakistani Higher Education Institutions. KEMU is ranked 6th amongst the medical universities of Pakistan by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

History

King Edward Medical College was established in 1860 as the Lahore Medical College. It is the fourth oldest medical school in South Asia, after Medical College Kolkata, Madras Medical College, Chennai and Grant Medical College, Bombay.
The first academic building was completed in 1883. On December 21, 1911, Lahore Medical College was renamed King Edward Medical College in Honor of the late King and Emperor and was elevated to the status of an independent, degree-granting university on May 12, 2005, when it became King Edward Medical University.

Campus and departments

The university has the following departments:

Basic science departments

The psychiatry department of KEMU has been designated status of Psychotrauma Centre for province of Punjab by Prime Ministers National Advisory Council in the aftermath of killings at Army Public School, Peshawar killings in 2014. This centre is created to conduct workshops on trauma, identify and train teams of mental health professionals and develop modules for training.
The department is being headed by Prof. Aftab Asif. The chief coordinator is Dr Ali Madeeh Hashmi. A technical expert committee has been made with prominent psychiatrists and psychologists from Punjab. The centre held its first workshop for first responders team and trained professionals from 1122 rescue service, traffic police, and Punjab police officers in 'Psychological First Aid' on Jan 17, 2015.
Next workshop was carried out on Feb 07, 2015. Media professionals from different genre were included and topics such as responsible reporting of terrorist activities, mental health problems faced by media personnels and the dynamics between government, media and terrorism highlighted the programme.
Neurosurgery Department pioneers spinal cord stimulation in Pakistan. Pakistan's first Spinal Cord Stimulation surgery was done by Neurosurgery Department of King Edward Medical University / Mayo Hospital Lahore in August 2018. Medtronic Spinal Cord Stimulation system was purchased via tender. The team included Professor Shahzad Shams, Dr Muhammad Tariq, Dr Ammar Anwer and Dr Rupesh Jung Raut. The patient was suffering from phantom limb syndrome and Medtronic Prime Advance™ SCS system was implanted bilaterally in cervical spine.
After getting status of university in 2005, A new campus building was designed. The new building is completed in 2019. Another building is under construction with the help of Alumni of university which donated 9 million dollars for the new structure. The university has also acquired new land outside Lahore to build a subcampus.

Academic degrees offered

Undergraduate

King Edward Medical University is headed by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Khalid Masood Gondal. At any time of year the university has over 1300 undergraduate and over 800 postgraduate students. Among the postgraduate doctors, 500 are doing residencies under the College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan.
Admission to King Edward Medical University is awarded to the students who have the highest merit in the province of Punjab and after primary selection, the list of selected candidates is sent to Dr.Muhammad Awais for approval. The merit for admission is calculated from marks obtained in Higher Secondary School Certificate exam plus the marks obtained in the entry test plus marks obtained in Secondary School Certificate . The percentage of each of these exams contributing to the final merit is different each year. The entry test takes place in September. Criteria for selection, for undergraduate seats, of foreign students and students with foreign examination is based on equivalents tables present for foreign examinations to that of local HSSC examination.
The graduation time period is five years. After graduation a one-year internship is done in Mayo Hospital or any Government Hospital. The interns are given rotations in departments based on merit. This merit is made from marks obtained in a final professional examination and all the other professional examinations, with deductions for any failures in the exams. Of all the specialties on offer, the Medicine and Surgery ones are the most competitive and allow only the best of each graduating class. After completion of internship the full registration status to a Doctor is awarded by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. Which means that he/she can practice anywhere in Pakistan only and not elsewhere.

Student societies

The student societies of King Edward Medical University include:
The members of these societies compete at the national and international level, and have won numerous competitions.
King Edward Medical University Magazine, KEMCOL, is maintained by the students.
No student union is allowed in the university.
The previous and current students of KEMU are referred to as Kemcolians.
The official student forum of the university is the blog KemUnited- Kemcolians United : www.kemunited.com. It serves as a brilliant guide, containing first-hand information from the students themselves about various aspects of life at the university.

Research

The Pakistan Medical Tuberculosis Research Center conducts research on improving the management of tuberculosis. Its objective include "Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis" and "Eradication of Tuberculosis" in Pakistan.

Alumni associations