Voicing concern: Be wary of ‘look-alike’ institutions: CPSP

Examination body warns Sindh government’s college degrees will not be recognised in other provinces or abroad.

KARACHI:

The Sindh government's plans to establish a postgraduate college with the objective to 'regulate' diplomas and degrees in medicine have prompted the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) to warn that the fellows and trainees of the proposed provincial college will not be recognised in the rest of the country and abroad.

The CPSP is the country's only postgraduate medical training and examination body in the public sector and was established in 1962 through an act of the Parliament. The body has issued a notice to its over 21,000 trainees, who are currently specialising in various medical disciplines at 179 accredited institutions in the country and 92 institutions abroad.

"The CPSP council has reviewed the material and basis for the creation of these provincial 'look-alike' institutions that are intended to replace national institutions - the PMDC and the CPSP - that have been in existence for over fifty years," stated the notice that was dispatched to the trainees' e-LogBook ®. "Whatever the purpose of creation, the single biggest and immediate disadvantage to the constituents of the [provincial] college - its fellows and trainees - is that they will not be recognised in the rest of the provinces or abroad."



On Sunday, a meeting of Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan with the chairperson of the controversial 'Sindh' Higher Education Commission, Dr Asim Hussain, and vice chancellors of public and private medical universities in the province had decided to set up a 'postgraduate college of medical sciences with the objective to regulate the postgraduate diplomas and degrees in medicine.'

"Though it was emphasised during the meeting that the proposed college will not function parallel to the CPSP, I cannot see how this step will not be in direct conflict with an already established body," said a vice-chancellor, who attended the meeting. "It seems that some people are bent on jeopardising the international calibre of postgraduate training in the country."

Meanwhile, the CPSP's notice also made it clear that the fellows and trainees of the proposed provincial college will not be able to train and work anywhere outside Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2014.