The Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC) launched a year long Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in Biomedical Ethics in 2006. This was the first program to be offered to healthcare related professionals in Pakistan. Forty one graduates of the program are currently working in public and private sector institutions involved in research and healthcare delivery services in the country.

The primary objective of the PGD program is to build bioethics capacity in Pakistan. The aim is to develop a community of healthcare related professionals with basic knowledge and skills in biomedical ethics, and to help them initiate and sustain ethics related activities in education, clinical practice, and research in their institutions.

The one year long program is specifically designed for busy healthcare related professionals. It consists of three teaching modules held in CBEC and spread over the academic year. The first module lasts 14 days whereas the second and third modules are from 8 to 10 days long. The fourth and last module includes a written examination and presentation of an “ethics project” which the student will initiate and execute at the parent institution as part of that institution, or in an individual capacity. The PGD employs adult learning methodologies in the modules with an emphasis on small group discussions rather than lectures. Movies and works of art and literature, both Pakistani and international, are used to generate discussions on various ethical themes. In the periods between the teaching modules, distance learning strategies and assignments are used to continue the education.

The course content of the program includes introduction to the basics of moral thought, and the evolution of contemporary ethics pertaining to biomedical research and clinical practice. Students are introduced to Greek moral philosophy, religious traditions in ethics and morality, linkages between law and ethics, and contemporary and emerging ethical dilemmas. An important objective is to develop critical thinking about the influence of culture, religious beliefs, legal frameworks, and socioeconomic realities in shaping ethical values within societies. Teaching modules also focus on developing ethics review committees, hospital ethics consultation services, and educational programs for medical students, trainees, and faculty and staff in institutions.

Students are expected to attend all teaching modules, and complete and pass all assignments including those that are part of the distance learning components of the program. To graduate, they must also pass two written papers, and present and successfully defend a “bioethics project” during the examination module.