LAHORE:The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has ordered an immediate and comprehensive transition to online teaching across all its campuses and more than 200 affiliated and constituent colleges, as Pakistan grapples with an energy crisis whose roots lie in the military conflict between Iran and Israel in the region.
With disruptions to regional oil and gas supply chains sending energy prices spiralling, the Punjab government issued an emergency directive temporarily suspending physical classes at higher educational institutions across the province.
UHS has moved swiftly to implement the provincial order, issuing a formal notification effective from Tuesday, March 10, through to March 31, 2026.‘Faculty must prepare their online lectures and assignments carefully and engage students fully so that there is no academic loss. This is not a holiday; it is a shift in the mode of delivery, and we expect the same academic rigour online as in the classroom,’ UHS Vice Chancellor, Prof Ahsan Waheed Rathore, made the remarks while chairing a meeting of the Administrative and Academic Advisory Committee (AAAC) at the university’s Jinnah Campus.
Earlier, in a directive, Prof Rathore ordered the development and immediate operationalisation of a robust and efficient centralised monitoring system to be housed at UHS. The system will enable constant, real-time oversight of online teaching activity across all affiliated institutions and constituent colleges.
A dedicated digital infrastructure at UHS will allow administrators to monitor the regularity of classes, faculty engagement, and student participation on an ongoing basis, with non-compliance treated as a serious regulatory breach.
The UHS notification covers teaching in basic sciences modules, pre-clinical and para-clinical subjects, non-clinical semester courses, and the theoretical components of clinical subjects. All major health professions degree programmes fall within its scope, including MBBS, BDS, BS Nursing and Post-RN, Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), Pharmacy, and Allied Health Sciences.
