Doctors’ body apprehensive over govt’s plans to devolve it
College of Physicians and Surgeons is an autonomous body that promotes specialist medical training.
KARACHI:
Fellows and members of the College of Physicians and Surgeon Pakistan (CPSP) are becoming increasingly apprehensive as the provincial government moves ahead with its plans to establish the provincial college of physicians and surgeons, disturbing one of the country's most reputed institutions in the name of 'provincial autonomy'.
Expressing deep concern, members of the CPSP body that currently represents all the provinces, have decided to protect the prestigious institution they claim is a symbol of national unity and an icon of postgraduate medical education.
"This institution has produced over 90 per cent specialists in the country and is ranked fifth globally," said CPSP president Prof Zafarullah Chaudhry. "This is an autonomous institution and is completely self-financed."
During the press conference at the CPSP premises on Monday, Prof Chaudhry said that the body had established 14 regional centres across the country and was producing around 1,000 specialists annually. "This institution has earned its own recognition across the globe." He said that the government's interference in the matters of the CPSP will disturb its reputation.
Sources said that the provincial government has written a letter to the office bearers of the CPSP recently, asking them to share its assets. "We have refused them and will not allow them to interfere in this institution's matters," an office bearer disclosed to The Express Tribune.
Prof Syed Tipu Sultan, one of the councillors of the CPSP, said that the institution has achieved distinction in the medical world and has recently been declared the best regional postgraduate medical institution of the world. Currently the CPSP is providing extensive postgraduate training in various medical disciplines in 179 institutions in the country and 92 institutions abroad.
"This institution does not come under the purview of the 18th Amendment," he claimed. "It has its own rules and regulations," he added.
"We will not allow anyone to disturb the reputation of the prestigious institution," said the body's director-general of international relations, Prof Khalid Masood Gondal. He said that the college has made its sanctity and has brought honour and respect for the country. "Our degree is considered number one in Saudi Arabia and seventh at the international level," he said.
According to Prof Chaudhry, there are 11,020 postgraduates in Punjab, 4,899 in Sindh, 2,808 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 463 in Balochistan and 57 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He said that 86 percent specialists of Sindh are in Karachi while 47 per cent of Punjab's graduates are in Lahore alone, adding that due to law and order situation all the specialists of Balochistan are in Quetta.
PMDC
Speaking on the issue of the reputation and relevance of the present body of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), Prof Chaudhry said: "The PMDC is illegal."
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2014.
Fellows and members of the College of Physicians and Surgeon Pakistan (CPSP) are becoming increasingly apprehensive as the provincial government moves ahead with its plans to establish the provincial college of physicians and surgeons, disturbing one of the country's most reputed institutions in the name of 'provincial autonomy'.
Expressing deep concern, members of the CPSP body that currently represents all the provinces, have decided to protect the prestigious institution they claim is a symbol of national unity and an icon of postgraduate medical education.
"This institution has produced over 90 per cent specialists in the country and is ranked fifth globally," said CPSP president Prof Zafarullah Chaudhry. "This is an autonomous institution and is completely self-financed."
During the press conference at the CPSP premises on Monday, Prof Chaudhry said that the body had established 14 regional centres across the country and was producing around 1,000 specialists annually. "This institution has earned its own recognition across the globe." He said that the government's interference in the matters of the CPSP will disturb its reputation.
Sources said that the provincial government has written a letter to the office bearers of the CPSP recently, asking them to share its assets. "We have refused them and will not allow them to interfere in this institution's matters," an office bearer disclosed to The Express Tribune.
Prof Syed Tipu Sultan, one of the councillors of the CPSP, said that the institution has achieved distinction in the medical world and has recently been declared the best regional postgraduate medical institution of the world. Currently the CPSP is providing extensive postgraduate training in various medical disciplines in 179 institutions in the country and 92 institutions abroad.
"This institution does not come under the purview of the 18th Amendment," he claimed. "It has its own rules and regulations," he added.
"We will not allow anyone to disturb the reputation of the prestigious institution," said the body's director-general of international relations, Prof Khalid Masood Gondal. He said that the college has made its sanctity and has brought honour and respect for the country. "Our degree is considered number one in Saudi Arabia and seventh at the international level," he said.
According to Prof Chaudhry, there are 11,020 postgraduates in Punjab, 4,899 in Sindh, 2,808 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 463 in Balochistan and 57 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He said that 86 percent specialists of Sindh are in Karachi while 47 per cent of Punjab's graduates are in Lahore alone, adding that due to law and order situation all the specialists of Balochistan are in Quetta.
PMDC
Speaking on the issue of the reputation and relevance of the present body of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), Prof Chaudhry said: "The PMDC is illegal."
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2014.