PMDC: Doctors argue new bill grants too many powers to decision-makers for medical schools
The PMDC has been given the power to recognize hospitals, which is not its job, says Dr Shershah.
KARACHI:
The National Assembly just passed a new bill on the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) that has considerably addressed the concerns of the medical profession but it still has some loopholes which can be exploited, doctors point out.
The number of PMDC members has been brought down from 150 to 47 and once the body is formed, it will have the powers it needs. But clause 30 has given all the powers of the PMDC to the existing executive council for 12 months. This is precisely where doctors think all the “hanky-panky” will take place, argued Dr Shershah Syed, while addressing a press conference at the Karachi press club on Wednesday.
Dr Syed raised seven points of concern that are going to affect the profession. Firstly, he said that it is surprising to note that the government of Pakistan has been given the power to recognise medical colleges in their initial period. This is not practised anywhere in the world as it is the PMDC’s responsibility.
Secondly, the new ordinance has a double standard of memberships - while a professor can become a member from a medical college, lecturers can also become members from universities. Hinting at people like the ‘wazeer-e-petroleum’, he said that this clause has been added to give membership to people who want to run the affairs of the PMDC but don’t have the proper qualifications.
He condemned the new rules which give membership to sub-standard universities, medical colleges and post-graduate institutes but include no representation for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP), which is awarding post-graduate degrees and diplomas to almost 80 per cent of specialists in Pakistan.
Dr Syed pointed out that the new bill gives enormous powers to the president of the PMDC to make appointments. This will make the employees subservient to the president, however, they should only be answerable to the council, he argued.
He said a new door of corruption will be opened because the bill has given the PMDC the power to recognise and give accreditation to hospitals. The PMDC will thus be able to harass hospital management where its role should only be limited to medical education and training. The bill has also deleted clause 12 as a result of which the status is unclear for Pakistani graduates with post-graduate qualifications from the UK, Canada, the US, Australia etc and are registered with their respective medical councils.
He said that the Pakistan Medical Association demands the formation of a new council in three months instead of 12 months so that the money-minting and dishonest representatives in the existing committee do not take advantage of this time bar. Providing some background to their performance, he said that these people gave licences to almost 119 medical colleges with insufficient facilities and resources. “I have personally visited Nawabshah, Larkana and Bolan medical colleges and seen they do not even have professors of basic sciences.”
Dr Habibur Rahman Soomro of the PMA added that there was a time when he used to be proud of being a student of Dow Medical College but today even though it is a university, the standard is far worse. Five medical colleges are awaiting approval in Karachi alone that is a 250-million-rupee racket, he said. “I completed my five-year education at Dow with Rs2,200 despite fees for a supplementary paper while today DMC is charging Rs47,000 per annum and private colleges are charging a minimum of Rs 700,000 per annum.
PMA members also expressed concern about the recognition of different medical universities and post-graduate programmes and said that they will only produce half-cooked doctors and specialists, which is an alarming threat to the health of the nation.
They demanded that all universities should be functional on a full-time basis with no one working part time, and the PG programmes should only be allowed if the institution has proper faculty and infrastructure. They demanded that the existing executive council will not give licenses to any more substandard medical colleges and finally the election of the PMDC’s new members should be transparent and from all over the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2012.
The National Assembly just passed a new bill on the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) that has considerably addressed the concerns of the medical profession but it still has some loopholes which can be exploited, doctors point out.
The number of PMDC members has been brought down from 150 to 47 and once the body is formed, it will have the powers it needs. But clause 30 has given all the powers of the PMDC to the existing executive council for 12 months. This is precisely where doctors think all the “hanky-panky” will take place, argued Dr Shershah Syed, while addressing a press conference at the Karachi press club on Wednesday.
Dr Syed raised seven points of concern that are going to affect the profession. Firstly, he said that it is surprising to note that the government of Pakistan has been given the power to recognise medical colleges in their initial period. This is not practised anywhere in the world as it is the PMDC’s responsibility.
Secondly, the new ordinance has a double standard of memberships - while a professor can become a member from a medical college, lecturers can also become members from universities. Hinting at people like the ‘wazeer-e-petroleum’, he said that this clause has been added to give membership to people who want to run the affairs of the PMDC but don’t have the proper qualifications.
He condemned the new rules which give membership to sub-standard universities, medical colleges and post-graduate institutes but include no representation for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP), which is awarding post-graduate degrees and diplomas to almost 80 per cent of specialists in Pakistan.
Dr Syed pointed out that the new bill gives enormous powers to the president of the PMDC to make appointments. This will make the employees subservient to the president, however, they should only be answerable to the council, he argued.
He said a new door of corruption will be opened because the bill has given the PMDC the power to recognise and give accreditation to hospitals. The PMDC will thus be able to harass hospital management where its role should only be limited to medical education and training. The bill has also deleted clause 12 as a result of which the status is unclear for Pakistani graduates with post-graduate qualifications from the UK, Canada, the US, Australia etc and are registered with their respective medical councils.
He said that the Pakistan Medical Association demands the formation of a new council in three months instead of 12 months so that the money-minting and dishonest representatives in the existing committee do not take advantage of this time bar. Providing some background to their performance, he said that these people gave licences to almost 119 medical colleges with insufficient facilities and resources. “I have personally visited Nawabshah, Larkana and Bolan medical colleges and seen they do not even have professors of basic sciences.”
Dr Habibur Rahman Soomro of the PMA added that there was a time when he used to be proud of being a student of Dow Medical College but today even though it is a university, the standard is far worse. Five medical colleges are awaiting approval in Karachi alone that is a 250-million-rupee racket, he said. “I completed my five-year education at Dow with Rs2,200 despite fees for a supplementary paper while today DMC is charging Rs47,000 per annum and private colleges are charging a minimum of Rs 700,000 per annum.
PMA members also expressed concern about the recognition of different medical universities and post-graduate programmes and said that they will only produce half-cooked doctors and specialists, which is an alarming threat to the health of the nation.
They demanded that all universities should be functional on a full-time basis with no one working part time, and the PG programmes should only be allowed if the institution has proper faculty and infrastructure. They demanded that the existing executive council will not give licenses to any more substandard medical colleges and finally the election of the PMDC’s new members should be transparent and from all over the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2012.