After 20 cases, PMDC staff seeks protection

Say council’s management only provided gloves, bottle of sanitiser

ISLAMABAD: Employees of the apex regulator of the medical institutions and practitioners in the country have asked the management of the body to improve the overall condition of the office, particularly for the protection of staff after 20 officials tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

“We have just been given gloves and a bottle of sanitiser,” disgruntled employees of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) said, adding that they are afraid of contracting the virus since the management has not taken adequate steps to protect them.

The employees said that they had demanded the PMDC president and registrar limit the number of staff required to come to the office and to revise their office timings of 9am to 6pm to 10am to 4pm - as was being followed in all other government offices across the country.

Doctors line up outside PMDC seeking licences

However, the staff lamented that their concerns and suggestions on slashing timings and working with the limited staff were rejected by the council’’s management, they added.

Even the employees with ages over 50-year-old have been directed to ensure full attendance, the staffers complained.

The staffers further said that PMDC, being a regulatory body, has to entertain hundreds of medical practitioners every day. These doctors travel within the country and abroad for training and other purposes.

Therefore, they said, the risk of contracting the virus amongst the workers of the body remains high.

“We have to deal with doctors who can be carriers of the virus,” they noted.

PMDC told to inspect private medical colleges

The employees criticised that how could the virus spread be curbed in the country when the apex regulatory body was not ready to give protection and safety to its employees.

The employees demanded that like other government offices, the council should decrease working hours as well as call only limited staff to office.

The Express Tribune tried contacting the PMDC officials for their version on the issue but they could not be reached.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2020.