FIMA Year Book 2009 - Federation of Islamic Medical Associations

Problem Based Learningmain mode of instruction, (23)• “PBL Supporting Curriculum”, (23)• Administrative commitment torevision of curricula and acceptanceof financial implications, (24)• Faculty and staff committed andtrained in PBL Instruction, (24,25)• Specially trained PBL Instructors, (26)PBL In Islamic Medical Instruction, IMIIslamic Medical Education, IMI, isa relatively new term introduced inthe 1980’s and presented as a viableconcept in Medical Education inFirst International Islamic MedicineConference in Kuwait, (27) . IslamicMedicine was the original term used inKuwait at that time and was acceptedgenerally to embody the ethical andmedical conduct of a Muslim Physician.Islamic Medicine can only result fromprovision of Islamic Medical Education.As a logical step in reverse engineeringof the term Islamic Medicine, we findthat in order to have a system of IslamicMedical Education, we have to devise aschool of Islamic Medical Instruction.The aims and objectives, curriculardesign and assignment of modes ofinformation transfer; all form parts ofthis greater whole.As already identified above, an integratedmedical curriculum is a pre-requisitefor institution of PBL, (23) . In case of IMIthis integration will not only bind thesciences together but it will also bringrelevant principals of Islamic MedicalEthics and references from IslamicMedical History into play. The resultingcurriculum will be a vibrant and richtapestry of pure sciences, Humanora,Islamic and general medical ethics andlearning in Islamic medical historyand civilization. PBL or the proposedIslamic PBL can only then be institutedin a medical institution possessing sucha curriculum. Few successful examplescan be quoted about such endeavorsin Islamic Medical CurriculumDevelopment. After an exhaustivereview, one can quote the example ofInternational Islamic University ofMalaysia. This curriculum is pioneeredby the Faculty of Medicine under Dr.Omar Hasan Kasule, Sr in 1997, (27)Dr. Omar Hasan Kasule, Sr. in a paperpresented to the first InternationalIslamic Medicine Conference,Kuwait (Kasule 1980) argued that Islamicmedicine can be defined only as valuesand ethics and not as any specific medicalprocedures or therapeutic agents. Thisdefinition allows Islamic medicine tobe a universal all-embracing conceptthat has no specific or particular timespacecharacteristics. A definition basedonly on values is however too generalto be useful operationally. Values canbe very subjective and difficult to defineexactly. An excerpt from Dr. Omar HasanKasule’s paper is given here for betterunderstanding of the concept of IMI.“There is an argument that you canget to Islamic medicine by ‘Islamizing”the physician especially duringtraining. Then you are sure that hisresearch, work and practice will bein conformity with the teachingsof Islam. Naqib (1984) proposed acomplete Islamically-based educationFIMA YearBook 200951