Doctors demand restoration of PMDC

YDA claims Pakistan Medical Commission bill will ruin standard of medical education

KARACHI:

The Young Doctors Association staged a protest against the Pakistan Medical Commission on Friday outside Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre’s Najamuddin Auditorium. The protesting doctors demanded that the PMC bill be revoked and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) be restored.

According to the protestors, the PMC will create difficulties for doctors and new medical graduates while allowing private medical colleges to do as they wish. This was why the opposition parties boycotted the bill, claimed the doctors.

They opined that the bill was against basic human rights and would ruin the standard of medical education in Pakistan.

If the PMDC is not restored, the doctors will face severe inconvenience, they claimed, reiterating their demand for it to be nullified. “It is the job of parliamentarians to legislate but they were irresponsible when they approved the PMC bill,” the protestors added.

According to YDA Sindh vice-president Waris Ali, it was indicative of the federal government’s incompetence that it secretly dissolved the PMDC and enforced the PMC bill.

“It is good that a new bill has been passed but its clauses and laws should be made clear,” he stated. “If testing is to be done through the PMC then the medical syllabus across the country should be uniform and admissions should be made under an open merit system,” he maintained, adding that the relevant authorities should take action against private institutions that do what they want to.

Meanwhile, YDA chairperson Dr Omer Sultan condemned the decision to dissolve the PMDC and rejected the PMC bill, which he opined was destructive for the future of medical students and professionals.

Medical graduates would be subjected to the National Licensing Exam after studying and appearing in exams for five years, he said, asking how the PMC bill could be enforced again when the court has nullified it.

“To produce good doctors, the focus should be on faculties, quality of education and a uniform examination policy,” he said, as he urged medical students to join the YDA’s protest for a better future.