YDA protests Centre’s move to dissolve PMDC

Protesters warn of launching province-wide movement if demands are not met

KARACHI: Scores of doctors staged a protest on Thursday against the federal government's decision to dissolve the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). The protest, organised by the Young Doctors Association (YDA) took place at the Jinnah Sindh Medical College, where the protesters held banners and shouted slogans against the federal government.

The protesting doctors said that over 200,000 doctors are registered with the PMDC and their registration would be cancelled by this decision taken by the federal government. They demanded that the government review its decision and restore the PMDC.

Terming the proposed National Licensing Examination (NLE) a burden on the doctors, the protesters decried that MBBS students would waste another six months due to the NLE. The fee for appearing in the NLE is Rs50,000, they lamented.

The protesting doctors said that they will wait until the Senate passes the order on November 5. "We are giving one week to the federal government after which we will launch protests across the province if the decision is not in our favour," said one of the protesters.

Police break up doctors’ protest, several arrested in K-P

The protesters also accused the government of making the amendment on the basis of their political interests, adding that imposing the Central Admission Policy in medical and dental colleges and giving the authority of admissions to private medical and dental colleges was equal to nurturing the culture of illegal donations, corruption and bribery. "We strongly condemn the dismissal of PMDC employees through a single stroke of the pen," said the protesters, adding that the dissolution of PMDC through the ordinance was the worst U-turn taken by the very government that had promised jobs.

The protesters condemned what they termed as the promotion of undemocratic actions and the establishment of Pakistan Medical Commission after dissolving the PMDC in an undemocratic way through a presidential ordinance by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2019.