Procedural delay: Medical college students demand PMDC recognition

Ghazi Khan Medical College students boycott classes, stage protest demonstration.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

Dozens of students of Ghazi Khan Medical College on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration against the delay in the registration of the institute with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

The students boycotted classes and took out a rally from the college to the commissioner’s office.

The protesters said that classes had started at the college in 2010, but it had not been recognised yet. “Our careers are in jeopardy as the PMDC has yet to recognise the college,” said Muneeb Abbas, a student. He said that the college was also short of staff.

“Most senior teachers have been transferred,” another student, Muhammad Shiraz said.

The Express Tribune has learnt that Dr Ghulam Mustafa (professor of surgery), Dr Muhammad Aslam (professor of ENT), Dr Samina (professor of pharmacology), Dr Lubna (professor of gynecology), Dr Altaf Qadir (associate professor), Dr Shaukat Hussain (associate professor of surgery), Dr Nasir Gopang (assistant professor of medicine) and Dr Muhammad Ishaq (assistant professor of surgery) have been transferred from the college within the last six months.

There are only two professors (anatomy and bio-chemistry) still teaching at the college.

Demonstrators are teaching in place of professors and assistant professors in forensic and pharmacology departments.

Bilal Afzal, another protesting student, said that the government had set up medical colleges in Gujranwala, Sialkot, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sahiwal.

“All the new medical colleges, except ours, have been recognised by the PMDC,” he said.

The protesters appealed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of the delay in the registration of the college. They also demanded that the college be affiliated with the University of Health Sciences and not the Ghazi University.

Some Young Doctors Association leaders also participated in the protest.

Ghazi Khan Medical College Principal Dr Shamim Hassan told The Express Tribune that the college had met all the conditions set by the PMDC for registration.

“Our registration was going to be approved by the PMDC when its governing body was dissolved three months ago,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2014.