PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Faculty, an institute responsible for holding examinations of paramedical courses, lacks proper staff and arrangements to keep close watch on examination centres of all affiliated institutes running across the province.
The faculty has the responsibility to scrutinise papers of various courses, including laboratory technician diploma, dental diploma, health technicians, anesthesia and emergency. The board is currently working under a secretary and a few clerical staff who sometime are unable to manage the overall responsibility to hold examinations, deputing examiners at various centres and inspecting institutes.
During an interview, Medical Faculty Secretary Jawad Habib told The Nation that the process of certification and roll numbers allotment was made flawless in his era and the records had been made computerised, which greatly facilitated the students as well staff of the medical board. Saying that it was difficult for him to run such important faculty alone, Jawad said that he needed assistant secretaries and subordinate staff to further streamline the affairs of the examination and secrecy.
He mentioned that due to lack of staff they had to hire some retired professors, who could not regularly visit far-flung areas of the province checking the standards of affiliated institutes and examination centres. He said that such important task needed regular inspection teams to keep close watch on examination centres where the students sometime resort to cheating and other unfair means.
"There is a huge demand of paramedical diploma holders in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and other countries and it provides golden opportunities for youth," he informed.
About students' complaints of frequent failure in the examinations, he termed the complaints baseless, saying that the talented students could easily pass the examinations.
Jawad also demanded regularisation of the staff, saying that the faculty was working on notification of Health Department and their employees were not regular. He said that the faculty needed more staff to further improve the system of examination and marking.
He also appealed to the health minister and health secretary to take personal interest in the matter and increase the staff of medical faculty to further improve the standard of education and checking process.