Which is better?: Students fight over post graduate training

MS/MD, FCPS trainees at King Edward Medical University demand more seats for respective groups at Mayo Hospital.

LAHORE:

A difference of opinion has emerged over the allocation of paid Post Graduate (PG) training seats between King Edward Medical University (KEMU) PG trainees.

PG trainees from both the Fellow of College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) and Master of Surgery (MS)/Doctor of Medicine (MD) programmes feel they are entitled to a greater share of the paid PG trainee seats at KEMU/Mayo Hospital.

There are 450 paid seats for PG trainees at KEMU and Mayo Hospital. Of these, 100 seats are allocated to KEMU while 350 seats are allocated to Mayo Hospital.

Representatives of MS/MD programme students announced the formation of the Post Graduate Students Council (PGSC) at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday to protect “the prestige of KEMU.”

“MS/MD programmes are KEMU’s own programmes while FCPS is CPSP’s programme. The rule is that each institution gives preference to its own programmes,” said Dr Asadullah Khan, the PGSC general secretary.

“Only 185 of the 450 paid PG trainees are from the MS/MD programmes. The number should be increased,” said Dr Usman Dar, the PGSC president.

Without directly referring to the CPSP, Dar said, “Some institutions in Pakistan produce specialists whose degrees are not recognised abroad. They charge thousands of rupees from doctors in the name of workshops and registration fees.”

On the other hand, he said, KEMU enrolls over 1,500 doctors in its MS/MD programmes after an entry test and educates them for free. He said they supported the university status of KEMU and condemned any propaganda against the current vice chancellor.

Representatives of the FCPS programme students on Sunday responded with a press conference of their own at the Lahore Press Club under the banner of the Young Kemcolians Forum (YKF).

“The MS/MD programme graduates are not from KEMU. They have graduated from China, Russia and other foreign countries,” said Dr Zahid Wazir, an FCPS trainee at KEMU.

He said Kemcolians will not let their rights be usurped. “Kemcolians and FCPS PGs will make their own council to counter any move against them,” Wazir said.

“The acting VC has destroyed the policy of merit in the last two years. Each medical institute tends to prefer its own graduates for jobs and PG education. But it was different at KEMU,” said Dr Qazi Yasir, another FCPS trainee at KEMU.

YKF office bearers Dr Zahid Wazir, Dr Qazi Yasir, Dr Khuda Bakhsh Dareshak, Dr Khawar Khan, Dr Saleem Akhtar, Dr Noor, Dr Aqsa, Dr Ayesha and Dr Asad Pasha were present.



A senior KEMU faculty member speaking on condition of anonymity said the approved formula was that two-thirds of the total PG seats should be for FCPS while one-third for MS/MD programmes. “The acting VC has violated this formula time and again. This has opened a Pandora’s box,” he said.

He said all paid seats were for FCPS trainees before the university started its MS/MD programme in 2006. “The 300 students who complete MBBS from KEMU prefer the FCPS since it is recognised around the world. If FCPS seats are converted into MS/MD seats, where would Kemcolians go for training?,” he said.

CPSP spokesperson Waqar Ahmad Qureshi said, “We do not want MS/MD programmes to be abolished but we do not want FCPS seats to be reduced at Mayo Hospital. CPSP trainees are in 156 health institutions in Pakistan. Out of a total 24,000 qualified specialists in Pakistan, 20,000 had been trained by CPSP. The CPSP recently celebrated 50-years of service. The occasion was attended by the presidents of colleges from 20 countries, including Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons from UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland and South Africa.” On Monday, the CPSP also held a press conference.

“PG seats for FCPS students should not be given to PGs of MS/MD programmes. Such moves will be resisted,” he added.

A senior office-bearer at CPSP speaking on condition of anonymity said, “Many FCPS trainees have been working free for months since their seats were given to MS/MD programme PGs. If FCPS seats are reduced, the quality of training at Mayo Hospital would decline.”

KEMU spokesman Dr Syed Zubair said that Vice Chancellor Professor Asad Aslam Khan was not favouring any PGs from the MS/MD or FCPS programmes. Zubair denied that there was any formula to fix the number of paid PG seats for either the FCPS or the MS/MD programmes. He said in principle KEMU should favour its own MS/MD programme as the FCPS was a CPSP programme. He said PGs from either programme were given seniority on the basis of their joining date.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2013.