President promulgates ordinance to dissolve PMDC's executive council

New management committee named who will elect a new council within 120 days through transparent and fair elections

ISLAMABAD: President of Pakistan on Friday promulgated Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) amendment ordinance 2015, dissolving the controversial executive council of PMDC with immediate effect. Subsequently a new management committee was named to hold elections for a new executive council.

A statement issued here by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said that a new council will be elected within 120 days through transparent and fair elections.

The move comes after questions were raised about the election of the now dissolved 54-member council as well as its decisions regarding the closure and opening of new medical and dental colleges across Pakistan allegedly through illegal means.

The Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar, along with the new management committee entrusted to hold elections, is expected to give a detailed public briefing on the matter on Monday.

The new management committee includes Major-General (R) Azhar Kiyani, Professor Abid Farooqui, Professor Nadeem Rizvi, a representative each from the ministry of law and ministry of finance.

The now-dissolved council was formed in August 2013, but it remained controversial.

Both the Senate and National Assembly committees on health had several times stopped the council from functioning but the council members paid little heed to their calls.

This had prompted the health ministry to urge the government to issue an ordinance for dissolving the council.

PMDC registrar Dr Shaista Faisal confirmed that the council had been dissolved and a new council would be formed through proper procedure.

The issue of PMDC council was recently taken up in the Supreme Court when the apex court took a strong exception to the working of two registrars in PMDC for nearly 18 months.

The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, had formed a committee consisting of three lawyers – Ilyas Siddiqui, Waheed Anjum and Gabriel Francis – to suggest which sections of Pakistan Penal Code was applicable against whom for the slackness and indifference being shown by the government in dealing with the PMDC.