While around 400,000 doctors have been produced over the past 30 years, only around 130,000 are registered with PMDC
ISLAMABAD: Recently, a BBC report has highlighted that many Pakistani female medical graduates never practise as doctors, choosing to stay at home instead. This serious issue has been discussed among professionals and policymakers only sporadically, but has never commanded the attention it deserves. In fact, this is only part of the issue. The government funds medical education for around 7,000 doctors every year, while another 6,000 graduate from private medical colleges. However, while around 400,000 doctors have been produced over the past 30 years, only around 130,000 are registered with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). This means that two out of three medical graduates did not even bother to register with the PMDC, i.e., they never intended to practise medicine in Pakistan. These ‘absentees’ include girls mentioned above, plus those boys who did pursue medical careers or those who went overseas right after graduation.
If girls meet admission requirements of medical colleges, by all means they should be given admissions. However, I believe that medical colleges should not be subsidised. The government can easily cover the cost of studies of students from poor families through scholarships. Everyone else should pay full fees and then if they want to sit at home, it is their choice. The government should not support that choice.
Dr Adnan Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2015.
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