A Warm Welcome to Our Members and Fellows in Pakistan
We are delighted to share this special newsletter highlighting the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s activity in Pakistan, along with opportunities and news for our Pakistan membership.
With more than 1,000 surgical and dental Members and Fellows in Pakistan—double the number of just a few years ago—our community continues to thrive and make an invaluable contribution to the life of the College. This growth reflects the commitment, expertise, and advocacy of our Members and Fellows, who strengthen our connections by supporting colleagues, inspiring future surgeons and dentists, and fostering professional collaboration throughout the country.
We are proud to see continued growth in demand for the MRCS, and we remain committed to supporting aspiring surgeons through regular examination diets in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad.
We hope you find the stories and information in this edition both useful and engaging. We warmly encourage you to stay connected and share your own news and achievements with us.
Meet Your Council Member
Professor Muhammad Rizwan Khan
Professor Muhammad Rizwan Khan is the first Pakistan-based surgeon to be elected as a Council Member in the College’s history of more than 500 years. A Fellow of the College since 2002, Professor Khan has long been involved in College activities and was instrumental in organising the MRCS examination in Karachi.
Examinations
See below for the list of upcoming diets in Pakistan for 2026.
For further information, please see our Exams Calendar.
Engagement Event
We look forward to welcoming students, trainees, and our Members and Fellows to an engagement event in Lahore in November. Please look out for an invitation nearer the time.
Our History in Pakistan
In this communication, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh pays tribute to D Mahmuda Ghulam Mohamed, a renowned gynaecologist in Karachi, Pakistan.
After training at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, and King Edward Medical College, Lahore, she then travelled to Edinburgh (Scotland) for postgraduate training and examination and on 21 July 1939, she took her seat as a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, one of the first female doctors from pre-partition India to be elected FRCSEd.
Dr Mohamed served as Medical Superintendent of the Lady Dufferin Hospital (a private healthcare facility for women opened in 1894) in Karachi from the 1940s until her until her sad passing in 1958. Under her direction, an Institute of Nursing was added to the building, and it became Pakistan’s pre-eminent maternity hospital.
Tragically, Dr Mohamed was to die suddenly of a brain haemorrhage in 1958, aged only 47, while attending a conference in Switzerland, but her legacy to women’s healthcare in Pakistan remains feted to this day.
To discover more about Library services for Members and Fellows, please visit www.library.rcsed.ac.uk or email library@rcsed.ac.uk.
Funding & Awards Opportunities
The College proudly supports our international community through a number of funding opportunities, established to champion your continued education, training and career development, as well as supporting you in your research endeavours.
The portfolio of funding & awards opportunities has recently become even more accessible with a redesigned web portfolio which we hope will ensure that you can see and engage with all that is open to you.
We are proud to invite you to apply to our newly reformed Ophthalmology Research Grants, Pump Priming Grant in Cancer Research, and the James Weir Foundation Research Grants, each offering £10,000 as a catalyst for your innovation and scientific discovery.
To support you in your professional journey, the Coronation Commonwealth Bursary is currently open for applications, and provides up to £2000 for those from and living in, Commonwealth countries outside of the UK.
We encourage you to explore the full portfolio, and direct any questions to fundingopportunities@rcsed.ac.uk.