In an attempt to appease medical students, and after a two-year-long struggle filled with protests and arrests, PMDC has now exempted future graduates from taking the National Licensing Exam (NLE) — a test mandatory to practise medicine in the country. The test was initially introduced to mimic the system of developing countries such as the US, Canada and the UK in order to inject the best potential doctors into the healthcare system. However, staunch resistance from students who claim this to be an added burden on top of the plethora of university examinations has forced the government to abolish the exit exam.
There have been mixed sentiments about the exam with some, mainly students, claiming its necessity to be a “black law”, while others believing that such assessments are necessary to maintain standards and check if graduates’ intellectual knowledge is sound. After all, many of them will be dealing with emergency life-or-death situations and perform sensitive surgeries. On the flip side, there will indeed be implementation lapses and unacknowledged factors when trying to incorporate such systems in a complex developing country like Pakistan and students are right in saying that first and foremost, it is the responsibility of the government to improve the standard of education while reducing the amount of stress and pressure that students have to deal with. With a weak education foundation that is developed from the school level onwards, the government cannot expect students to pass en masse and produce enough quality doctors to meet the bulging expectations of Pakistan’s tattered healthcare structure.
In such a situation, it would be sensible for stakeholders to sit down and revisit the educational syllabus along with the number of exams that students are forced to take. A balanced programme will be beneficial for students, besides being helpful in protecting the future of Pakistan’s healthcare.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2023.
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