(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Doha: Qatar University's (QU) Health Interprofessional Education Committee in collaboration with the Interprofessional Education Students' Association Qatar recently organised its first virtual debate.
The debate was held with the motion that the house believes that considering the continuous quarantine and precautionary measures should be of a priority over lifting the restrictions to avoid the negative economic and social consequences.
The event lasted for two hours and was conducted online through Qatar University WebEx application. It was attended by around 250 local and international participants. Vice-President for Medical and Health Sciences in Qatar University Dr. Egon Toft welcomed attendees followed by Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at College of Pharmacy (CPH) and QU Health Chair of the Interprofessional Education Committee Dr. Alla El Awaisi. This was followed by an overview of the association's vision, mission and activities presented by the Vice-President of the IPE Student Association and CMED third year medical student Ms. Jawaher Baraka.
The debate was moderated by the President of the IPE Student Association and CPH MSc graduate Sawsan AlMukdad. Members of the affirmative side included CPH student Fatima Nazar; College of Health Sciences (CHS) student Shaza Malik and College of Medicine (CMED) student Ahmed Daniyal. The negative side team included CHS student Bana Salim, University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ) student Aysha Saeed and Weill Cornell Medicine — Qatar (WCM-Q) Shahryar Rana.
It followed a format where each student was given a five minute for a speech, a two minute caucus and a chance for a cross examination from the opposing team. The audience were allowed to ask questions directed to the teams after the debate and the judges also gave their clarifications and comments on both teams.
Dr. Egon Steen Toft congratulated the winner and said: 'The initiation of this interprofessional debate format for our students is an excellent idea. The pandemic has shown the importance of working together more than ever and the potential online fora for high level of discussions and patient treatment is an obvious future solution for the benefit of patients and improving health care system care.
As both sides comprises an interprofessional team, the debate contest opened an opportunity to see the perspectives of various healthcare students and allowed the participants to increase their knowledge on the different issues concerning the novel coronavirus that is currently affecting the lives of everyone around the globe through reliable data and evidence-based research.
Dr. Hanan commented: 'Debates provide an excellent medium for stimulating critical thinking and for engaging students deeply. It was really gratifying to see students across health professions and across institutions working together as a team and engaging with such enthusiasm on the topic of COVID-19 public health measures. I look forward to future debates on further topics of interest to the health sector and to society as a whole.
Fatima Nazar from the winning team said: 'We would like to thank QU Health and Student Interprofessional Education Association for giving us this wonderful opportunity to work together and collaborate as a team. We were able to explore in depth the different policies that were applied around the world, and the consequences of these policies.
Shahryar Rana from the negative team commented: 'A welcome challenge. I learned a lot from my interlocutors. Yes, there were heated moments but I left having learned more from my teammates as well as my opponents, and the panel's thoughts were enlightening on the overall scope of the issue.
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