The Sindh government's plans to establish a provincial regulatory authority for medical qualifications offered by postgraduate specialisation schools has met with a strong reprisal by members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSP) in Balochistan.
Fellows and members of the college's Balochistan chapter held a meeting, presided over by Prof Dr Siddiqullah Tareen, at their regional centre in Quetta where the Sindh government's moves were said to be damaging an institution of international repute.
The meeting resolved that the CPSP was established through an act of Parliament on May 19, 1962 as a national body for maintaining high principles of the medical profession and promoting specialist medical practice by arranging postgraduate medical training across the country. Any steps taken to devolve the institution, it said, will be resisted at the national level.
"We will join hands together with other members in the country and abroad to defend this national asset," said Dr Tareen while urging the CPSP president and the executive committee to hold a general convention of CPSP fellows across the country on the issue.
Members of the Balochistan chapter condemned the attempts being made to divide their alma mater in the name of provincial autonomy.
They claimed that it had taken the CPSP 52 years to make a name for itself in the international community, where members and fellows were recognised and respected by sister colleges around the world and were serving in more than a dozen countries.
"To meet future requirements and needs of specialist doctors of the country, more than 21,000 doctors are under training at various stages with 2,500 supervisors in 179 institutions of the country and 92 institutions abroad," said Prof Dr Naqibullah Achakzai, the CPSP Balochistan director and a prominent neurosurgeon. "Steps taken at the provincial level in Sindh will not only jeopardise their training but will also damage the name of this institution."
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2014.
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