General Surgery Program

The Medical Education department under the leadership of the Director works to ensure that our system of postgraduate medical education is established according to the internationally acceptable criteria and meet all the requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP).

Program Director Message

Dr. Omer Ehsan

Residency Training Program in general surgery was fully recognized by College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan in 2007. Since then we have trained more than 50 residents taking up fellowship as well as IMM certification to pursue other specialties for further training. The section of General surgery has the best-trained faculty engaged in training the residents in an integrated, well-structured program.

Our current program provides strong clinical training with the appropriate mix of supervision and autonomy at all levels, as well as an unparalleled exposure to complex open and laparoscopic surgical procedures. The residents are trained in various aspects of general surgery along with allied disciplines of urology, orthopaedics, Colo-rectal, plastic surgery, vascular and hepato-biliary surgery and neurosurgery.

The department is very well-equipped. There is a comprehensive academic program over and above the requirements and guidelines of CPSP. There is a strong emphasis on research activities over and above dissertation writing. Our program and training is approved for MRCS examinations of Royal Colleges of UK. We welcome the aspiring residents in surgery.

The goal of the programme is to provide supervised, structured and comprehensive training in General Surgery. We aim to produce surgeons who are trained in patient centered care, who work ethically and with compassion and are clinically and academically competent.

  • Program Director
  • Associate Program Director 
  • Chief Resident
  • Program Coordinator

The General Surgery Residency Programme extends over four years. During this time the responsibilities given to trainees change, providing them with progressively increasing exposure in outpatients, operating room and in the pre-and post-operative management of patients. The training period may be extended to 5 years if need arises based on the assessment of the trainee.

Training Details:

The training programme is based on the curriculum for General Surgery by College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan. This curriculum requires trainees to achieve agreed competencies to allow progress to the next level. There are regular monthly and quarterly assessments by supervisors/faculty depending upon the stage and period of rotations. The candidates are required to maintain an e-log and portfolio of their training as per CPSP requirement. Each candidate is provided periodic feedback and annual appraisal of all aspects of training. A comprehensive annual exam is held on the pattern of fellowship exam of CPSP. Progress to the next level of training is only allowed after achieving satisfactory completion of the requirements of the current year.

Outline of Training:

As per CPSP requirements training is divided into
A: Intermediate Module
B: General Surgery
Intermediate Module is a period of basic training (two years), including General Surgery for 15 months followed by rotations in Trauma & Orthopaedic surgery, Plastic surgery, Otolaryngology, Cardiothoracic surgery and Paediatric surgery for a period of 9 months.
General Surgical training is of 2 years duration during which the trainee spends time with different consultants/supervisors to broaden his scope of training skills. The last year is mostly spent with the main supervisor to directly streamline his final training.

Quality Assurance and Governance:

The programme is run by Programme Director along with 2 Associate Programme Directors. This in turn is supervised by the Postgraduate Medical Education Department of Shifa International Hospital. We aim to maintain Quality assurance through trainee questionnaires, supervisors' feedback and regular PGME assessment.

Each resident is expected to remain on-call in the hospital premises once in four nights. The reporting time of residents is 8 am.

The residents are evaluated three monthly with internal assessment. In addition, each resident undertakes an MCQ exam by European board of urology and an end of year written assessment and oral/viva examination at the end of the year. ​

Candidates are required to fill on-line application form. Please follow the steps mentioned below:
1. Register yourself by defining user name and password.
2. After your account is created, you will need to login to fill the Application Form. Programs offered will be displayed after registration.
3. A candidate can apply for only one program at a time.
4. Candidate may partially fill the form and save it on-line for resuming filling out the form later using login credentials.
5. Once the on-line application form is filled and submitted, candidate would be able to take a printout.
6. The hard copy of the on-line application form along with the required documents mentioned in the Application Form must be submitted to the PGME Office, Medical Staff Affairs either personally, through friends/relatives or through reliable courier service.

7. Check your junk emails (in case of email not received).

If there is still confusion, then follow these Steps

Step 1. Register yourself
Step 2. Check your email address and click on the received link
Step 3. Login
Step 4. Fill the Profile necessary information
Step 5. Submit
Step 6. Ok
Step 7. Online Application Form
Step 8. Select Program or Medical Officer
Step 9. Select specialty
Step 10. Submit
Step 11. Print application form.

​All residents are encouraged to get involved in audits and research projects, however research project as per CPSP requirements is mandatory for all.

  • MBBS or equivalent degree approved by the PM&DC, with 60 per cent or above marks in the final examination.
  • One year internship with six months in Medicine and allied and six months in Surgery and allied disciplines.
  • Candidates with FCPS Part I or equivalent.
  • Fresh graduates of less than four years are preferred.
  • The candidates are short-listed based on the MCQs examination scores and the parameters listed above. Final selection is made after a set of interviews with the faculty.