PMDC’s new body in four months: minister

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Monday announced a five-member management committee to elect a new body to run the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

Addressing a press conference, federal health minister Saira Tarar said the committee would elect 35 PMDC council members in 120 days.

The management committee comprises Maj Gen (retd) Azhar Kayani, Professor Abid Farooqi and Professor Nadeem Rizvi. The law and finance ministries will also nominate one member each.

Tarar said to ensure transparency, a pre-condition was set for management committee members to not have served in PMDC in the last five years. The minister said the committee has been given full powers to ensure transparency in the elections.

The council would now consist of 35 members, instead of the previous 81. Of the 35, at least 20 members would be elected and the rest would be honorary members. All provinces and the public and private medical and dental colleges would have equal representation in the new council, the minister said.

“Fees in private colleges are two times that in state colleges,” she said. Talking about fake colleges, she stressed on the need for a well-thought-out strategy and not abrupt closure of colleges as thousands of students’ careers were at stake. Tarar said the management committee would also resolve the issue of two registrars at the PMDC.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2015.