The proposal to start an evening MBBS programme was condemned by the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) in Sindh on Monday.
“The programme is being considered because the board is under pressure from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) members who are linked to private colleges,” said PMA Sindh president Dr Samrina Hashmi. “There are not enough resources or infrastructure to support such a move.”
The PMA said that the proposal was rejected in 2010 and has been on the shelf since April 2011.
The press release issued by the PMA claimed that the proposal to start the evening classes was brought forward by the president. “The proposal could damage the image and standard of medical education in Pakistan,” said the press release. “Such an idea has never been conceived of or implemented by any country and will deteriorate the standards of medical education.”
Hashmi claims that the PMDC should focus on providing good quality education rather than an evening programme. “Most of the medical colleges in Sindh do not have the infrastructure or faculty to provide proper medical education any way,” she said.
Hashmi added that more than 80 per cent of the 108 medical colleges in the country fail to fulfill the PMDC criteria. “The PMDC requirements and guidelines clearly state that in order to create or increase the number of seats in medical and dental institutions, the hospital should have at least 500 beds in order to train 100 MBBS students,” she said. Discussing the need for proper medical faculty members in the country, Hashmi added that there are times when one professor is teaching four subjects at the same school. “Besides the Aga Khan University Hospital, the teacher student ratio set by the PMDC is not followed in any medical college,” she said.
Doctors, who are members of the PMA in Sindh fail to understand how medical students will be trained properly if surgeries and outpatient departments are dealt with in the morning. They fear that if the proposal goes through then different medical colleges will try to claim a financial share. “If the proposal is accepted then there will be a mushroom growth of evening medical colleges,” they said. “They will be producing quacks instead of doctors.”
Hashmi added that the PMA was supported by various medical institutions, including the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, Pakistan Pediatric Association, Orthopedics Association, Cardiology Association and the Society of Gynaecologists.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.
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