ISLAMABAD-Denouncing the dissolution of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) on Wednesday urged the government to resolve the doctors’ problems on priority basis.
Secretary General PMA Dr. Qaiser Sajjad in a press briefing held at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) urged the government to withdraw the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) Ordinance 2019 and restore the PMDC.
He said that PMA had urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to look into the matters of health sectors but there is no response so far in this regard.
He said that after the dissolution of PMDC, the doctors abroad are facing numerous problems and the government should constitute a committee to resolve their problems in three months.
He said that PMC is not internationally recognized and departments abroad are only aware of the PMDC and medical professionals of Pakistan origin in other countries are facing problems in their registration and other matters.
He said that though the dissolved PMDC had a number of administrative problems but dissolving a regulatory body was not a solution. “Problems of PMDC should be resolved while restoring the body,” he remarked.
He also criticized the newly introduced NLE test for medical professionals before they start general practice and declare it an exit test.
He said that primary problem in the NLE exam is that a student enters into medical education with an entry test but he is not allowed to practice until he clears the exit test.
He said that this shows that you do not have trust over the medical education system even through this new ordinance. The other problem with the decision will be a mushroom growth of coaching centres in the country. In the name of preparing the students for exit exams they will charge hefty fees from already overburdened parents.
Protesting on the dissolution of PMDC, Dr. Qaiser Sajjad said that PMC is brain child of few elements trying to reform the health sector while Vice President of PMC is facilitating in this matter.
He also alleged that the PMC model has been adopted from India and PMA has reservations on it.
He said that the PM wanted to eliminate the corrupt practices from the country but no one paid attention to the call given by PMA.
He also warned that if the government failed in restoring the PMDC, the PMA will urge the medical professionals to stop their registration with the PMC.
Mentioning flaws in the PMC ordinance, he said that after the dissolution of PMDC the membership of the registered doctors with PMDC is also at stake.
So, majority of the doctors in the country and abroad think that they are unregistered doctors now.
He said that recognition with international institutes like, International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA), World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) and Directory of Organizations that recognize/Accredit Medical Schools (DORA) has almost finished.
He also mentioned that the PMC ordinance gives lot of powers to the private sector medical education like, keeping the fee structures at their will, choosing the university of their choice for affiliation, enrolling number of students without any limit, no bar for a proper faculty, enrolling and accepting medical students from any foreign country after 2 years of pre-clinical education and there will be no inspections of medical colleges from regulatory body.