Regulating healthcare: PMDC chief promises re-elections after completion of council

KARACHI:

Prof. Dr Masood Hameed Khan, who as a result of a controversial election, was elected unopposed as president of the country’s prime regulatory body of medical education - Pakistan  Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) - has proposed to hold re-elections for the president’s post and the post of other office-bearers after the completion of the council.

Dr Khan was a part of the six-member caretaker body tasked with holding the PMDC elections after constituting its 76-member council. He has subsequently been at the helm of controversy since August 7 when he got himself elected as the president despite the deficient quorum.

Consequently, the Pakistan Medical Association as well as the Young Doctors’ Association had decried Dr Khan, and four other members - including Dr Asim Hussain, Dr Syed Muhammad Awais, Dr Naveed Rashid and Dr Zubair Khalid - of violating the PMDC constitution by running in the elections themselves. They also announced to boycott the elections in protest against the candidature of the interim committee’s members.



At a press briefing on Thursday, Dr Khan explained that the interim committee had to hold the elections of the new council by August 12, 2013 according to the PMDC Amendment Act of June 2012, otherwise the setup would stand dissolved, which would ultimately derail the regulatory body.

He accepted that the total members of the PMDC council had to be 76 to elect its president, vice president and the executive committee, according to the Act. “By the time the elections were due, only 37 members of the council were notified by the ministry of regulatory affairs, which is responsible for issuing the membership notifications to the candidates,” said Dr Khan.

He added that the PMDC awaited notifications for 16 more members while the cases of seven others were pending in courts. The rest of the council members’ notifications remained pending as they belonged to areas where there were no medical institutions, he added.

Performance woes

In response to the allegations regarding the mushroom growth of sub-standard medical colleges, violation of PMDC regulations by medical institutions and the fake registrations of doctors, Dr Khan said that when he and PMDC Registrar Dr Raja Amjad Mahmood took charge, the regulatory body was embroiled in a number of discrepancies, including fake registrations and financial irregularities.

“At least 35 cases of fake registrations were established and subsequently handed over to the courts and the Federal Investigation Agency for investigation,” he said. “Apart from that, the PMDC had barred at least nine medical institutions from announcing more admissions because they were lacking in minimum standards while two bogus medial institutes were closed down.”

For the substandard medical institution, which were already established, Dr Khan said that all these will be facilitated to ascend the level of their medical education as per international standards. He stressed, however, that if the institution failed to show signs of progress, the PMDC would be compelled to revoke its registration.

Dr Khan said that any complaints can be communicated via SMS to 0333 251 5881.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2013.