Asthma Care Clinical Meeting & Workshops

Report By: Dr. Hammad Ahmed Bhatti
A clinical meeting on Asthma Care along with its related workshops was conducted by the Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine (PSIM) UAE Chapter and Pakistan Medical Centre (PMC) Academia in a local hotel in Dubai on 27th April 2025. About 100 healthcare professionals from different specialties and emirates flocked together to attend this CME accredited insightful all day event. Program Director for this event was Senior Consultant Pulmonologist Prof. Syed Arshad Hussain who not only led all the sessions but elaborated Asthma from basics up to the latest treatment modalities during his gigical interactive lectures and workshops.

This program was divided in 3 sessions out of which the 1st session was chaired by Dr. Moin Fikri, and Dr. Hamed Farooqi, Dr. Beena Hameed and Dr. Naeem Toosy were the penalists. In this session, clinical history, management and asthma triggers were explained wonderfully by Dr. Samar Asim, GINA guidelines were reviewed by Prof. Syed Arshad Hussain and extra fine triple therapy was depicted with reference to the real life experience by Prof. Bassam Mahboub. Follow up with questions and answers and all the sessions were marvelously moderated by Dr. Maria Awais and Dr. Seemin Shiraz.

Prof. Niaz Shaikh chaired the 2nd session with expert panelists Dr. Muhammad Harriss, Dr. Shoaib Khan, Dr. Mueed Ahmed, Dr. Hassan Shaukat and Dr. Ubaid Hashmi. This session had also incredible lectures such as safety guideline in the management of pediatric asthma by Dr. Basil Nasrallah, role of biologics in asthma by Prof. Syed Arshad Hussain, ER management of Asthma by Dr. Anser Mahmood and Asthma care in the ICU by Dr. Seemin Shiraz brilliantly.

Icing on the cake of this event were 4 state of the art asthma related interactive hands on workshops on FENO and spacers/ inhalers/ nebulizers, and allergy patch testing led by Prof. Syed Arshad Hussain, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali and Dr. Hammad Ahmed Bhatti. Similarly Spirometry and Peak Flow Data interpretation workshops were keenly led by Dr. Samar Asim and Dr. Seemin Shiraz and NIV by Dr. Naheed Elahi. Beauty of these workshops was proved on seeing the confidence on the faces of all the participants after using all the equipment with passion and smile. It was followed up by Mr. Muhammad Khalid Qureshi’s awesome presentation about BMJ’s innovations in the medical education.

All the sessions were concluded with the event’s souvenirs and certificates for the esteemed guest speakers, panelists, participants and the partners. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali’s energetic and charismatic initiative, motivation and taking it all along with his personal touch had made this event a 5 star for the community of Pakistani doctors working in the UAE. Dr. Faisal Ikram President of Pakistan Association Dubai and Dr. Zafar Gondal from Medical Wing’s presence further enhanced the glow of this star studded event. It was all not possible with our volunteers Dr. Nayab Ali, Dr. Shaista Sadiq, Dr. Kalkidan Getachew, Dr. Emebet Getaneh, Dr. Fayeza and Mr. Habib, and our partners PAD, PMC Academia, BMJ, MDC and Cheisi. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Zulfiqar Ali to all the delegates with a message for a step further in the community for an asthma free society