Dow Medical College is one of the oldest education institution of the country. It has produced a large number of well-trained physicians who are now spread all over the world establishing themselves in different areas of medical field with a clear distinction.

The college is situated in Karachi, the biggest city of the country, however, it was first established in Hyderabad, Pakistan as a small college. Before the independence, in 1941, the Indian Medical Council in order to introduce a uniform standard of medical education either abolished or raised many medical schools to a university level. Through the untiring efforts of Dr. Holmisted, the medical school at Hyderabad was granted a status of a degree college in 1941 by the government of Sind. The same year the government of Sind appointed a committee to implement this decision and to explore the feasibility of moving this medical school from Hyderabad to Karachi.

In 1943, this committee which consisted of: Dr. Hermends R. Wadhwani, the then Minister of Public Health; Col. J. E. gray, the then Inspector General of civil hospitals; and Mr. Abhichand, the then Executive Engineer, developed the plans for the Dow Medical College. Major ( Later Lt. Col. ) Aziz K. M. Khan continued this project during the absence of Col. Gray. The college was inaugurated by Governor Maudie of Sind in Hyderabad in 1945. The first batch of the admitted students consisted of forty-five students among which there was a Muslim girl student named Ms. Fahmida Shaikh.

In 1944, the University of Bombay granted a temporaray affiliation, which was later withdrawn on the recommendation of a three member committee consisting of Dr. Molgonkar, Dr. Yodh and Col. Jalal M. Shah. However, this committee recommended moving this institution to Karachi and later the affiliation to University of Bombay was restored for the years 1945 and 1946.

The foundation stone of the new building was laid in Karachi on December 10, 1945 by Sir Hugh Dow, the then Governor of Sind, after whom this medical college was named. The medical college was transferred from Hyderabad to Karachi on December 31, 1945. It was temporarily housed in the N.J.V. High School building. Dow Medical College started functioning in the new building in the November of 1946. In the December of 1946, Bombay University's team of inspectors recommended to continue its affiliation for the pre-clinical years and a conditional affiliation for the clinical subjects.

In 1947, when Pakistan gained its independence, Dow Medical College came under University of Sind's jurisdiction. A new committee was appointed by the University of Sind. It visited the institution on December 22^nd 1947 and recommended full affiliation. It remained under Government of Sind until the central government took over on July 8, 1951. Pakistan Medical and Dental Council gave its recognition to the college in 1953. On March 7, 1962, it came under the jurisdiction of West Pakistan Government. With the dissolution of "One Unit", Sind Government assumed it's control again on June 30, 1970.

In 1953, the Student Union was established by the students. Prior to this the student union activities were largely run by the college staff. The Constitution of the Student Union of Dow Medical College was drafted by Mr. Sarwer and Mr. Sulaiman Karatela. The elections were held and Mr. Rehman Ali Hashmi was elected the first President of the Student Union. During this tenure, the constitution was approved by the Principal and the General Body of students. The role of Student Union had been vital in shaping of Dow's activities. It provided a venue for cultural, political and creative activities in arts and litrature on a national level. The DMC Annual Mushairas and Annual functions were keenly awaited by the entire city every year. The Student Union published it's first magazine in 1950 which was later named "DOWLITE" in 1951. In 1957, it started a Urdu magazine named " "NAMUD-E-SAHER". The Student Union also established a lending library in 1952, initially with only a handful of books which later grew to be a big source of books for the students.

In 1961, College Mosque was built. In 1968 Arag Auditorium was built with the efforts of Surgeon A. Rahim. In 1973, the Main Auditorium, the new medical library and common room building were established. The Main Auditorium was later named after Prof. Khawaja Moin. The last major addition to Dow medical College was the "Hygiene Block" building in 1981.

Recently, a major project of modernization of the college is begun. The whole library system is being renovated with the addition of the latest audio-visual equipments, computers and multimedia learning resources for the medical students. Also there will be Medline search and Internet capabilities available for the students.

Source of above information:
1. Principal, Dow Medical College, Professor M. Shafi Quraishy
2. Article by Dr. Mushtaq A. Khan, published recently in DOGANA directory.
3. History of DMC an article in 6th annual convocation magazine: 1980.