Dow Medical College is situated in Karachi, the most heavily populated city in the country but was first established in Hyderabad, Pakistan as a small college. The Indian Medical Council introduced a uniform standard of medical education before independence and 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. In 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.
The Committee in 1943 worked on plans for Dow Medical College and 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, and Major (Later Lt. Col.) Aziz K. M. Khan continued this project during the absence of Col. Gray. Governor Maudie of Sind in Hyderabad inaugurated the college in 1945. Amongst the first group of forty-five admitted students was a Muslim girl named Ms. Fahmida Shaikh.