KARACHI, Feb 9: The Sindh government has expressed its reservations about the decision of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) de-recognizing private medical and dental colleges/universities and questioned its authority to do so.

These reservations have been made in a letter addressed to the federal health minister, Dr Abdul Malik Kasi, by the Sindh health minister, Ehsan Ahmed.

Referring to press reports that the PMDC in its last meeting had decided that it would de-recognize those private colleges and universities which did not complete the requirements under PMDC rules, Mr Ahmed observed that it could recognize various institutions for the purpose of teaching but could not de- recognize them and it had to approach the federal ministry of health.

“There is no room for provisional recognition of an institute under PMDC rules and before de-recognizing any institution, it has to justify its own acts including the one for which its ex- secretary has been put behind bars by the National Accountability Bureau,” he said.

The minister said that the rules of the PMDC applied to medical and dental institutions irrespective of the fact whether these were functioning in the private or the public sector including those in the army. Any attempt to de-recognize one institution would result in the de-recognition of all institutions in the country because none of these completed the requirements one hundred per cent as laid down by the PMDC, he argued.

If any institution decided to make this plea through the court, the PMDC could lose its case. A judgement of court would bring the entire medical education to a standstill in Pakistan, he said.

He also referred to a similar situation that had arisen a few years back in Karachi when Vohra Medical College had been de- recognized by the PMDC and said as a result of law and order situation, 300 students of this college had to be absorbed in the public sector medical colleges. This situation would multiply manifold under the present circumstances whereby in addition to a number of medical colleges, there were four medical universities in the private sector and one in public sector functioning in Sindh alone, he said.

Mr Ahmed observed that the PMDC had adopted an attitude which was extremely non-cooperative, harassing and even tantamount to blackmailing. The policies and attitude of the PMDC were in clear violation of not only norms of profession but also in contravention of the policies of the government whereby the private sector was being offered all kinds of incentives and being encouraged under the directives of the president, he added.

“We have given our suggestions to the NRB chairman in respect of medical education as well as review of federal legislative list and concurrent legislative list on the subject. The PMDC should not be allowed to sabotage the job of national reconstruction,” he said.—PPI