KARACHI March 2014: Speakers stressed on the need of promotion and development of Statistics and producing quality statisticians who will contribute towards nation-building efforts and socio-economic development of the country. They emphasized that application of statistics is very important in policy development and monitoring of health, finance, education and information technology.
They were addressing the 12th International Conference of Statistical Sciences organised by Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) in collaboration with Islamic Society of Statistical Sciences (ISOSS), Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, University of Karachi, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology, DHA – Suffa University and Pakistan Science Foundation at Dow International Medical College (Ojha Campus).
The Cheif Guest of the Conference was Ms. Sadia Rashid, President of Hamdard Foundation. More that 150 speakers from countries like Nepal, Malaysia, China and Qatar gathered in this mega event at the platform of DUHS.
Speaking as the Chief Guest, Ms. Sadia Rashid stressed the need to have reliable statistics for policy making of the country. She said that the importance of statistics in medicine is very crucial. As a matter of fact, medicine relies on statistics greatly. Realizing the need of a wide spectrum of statistics and its application, she said that; nowadays statistic are being used in almost every field, particularly in research and education. This conference will contribute significantly towards the advancement of statistical sciences amongst the academics in Pakistan and other muslim countries.
She appreciated the efforts of Vice Chancellor, Dow University and the competent team organizing such an informative conference for students and researchers working in the field of statistics.
Prof. Masood Hameed Khan - Vice Chancellor, DUHS in his address said that; Modern era sciences are dependent on statistics. Data is very important for research work. He said that this Conference will not only provide our students and researchers an opportunity to share their research projects, ideas and contributions to enhance public health research, it will also provide an excellent chance to develop a sense of community for benefiting from research experiences and sharing the expertise of researchers across the islamic world. It will prepare the participants to meet the challenges in research and statistical application posed by a dramatically changing global environment.
In his welcome address, Prof. Dr. Nazeer Khan - Director, Research Department informed that DUHS in collaboration with ISOSS is organizing this Conference for the first time in Pakistan. Previously ISOSS conferences have been held in Malaysia, Indonesia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and a number of times in Pakistan at Gujrat, Dera Ismail Khan and the historical city of Lahore, which has the privilege of being the Head Quarter of ISOSS.
Prof. Zafar Iqbal - Vice Chancellor, Federal Urdu University said that Statistician are the backbone of an institution. This method provides a cost effective solution for analyzing the data and making decision for a larget set of data.
Admiral Prof. Dr. Sarfaraz Hussain, Vice Chancellor, DHA Suffa University said that Statistics is the subject which has impacted our life immensely. Its applications are so widespread that no country in the world can under-weigh its significance, if it aspires to grow in the modern era. It plays a significant role in all branches of knowledge.
Others who spoke on the occasion include; Prof. Muneer Ahmed, Founder ISOSS, Dr. Gazala H. Nizami of Karachi University, Prof. Kamran Siddiqui and Dr. Kashif Shafique.