May 6, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 5: Consultants in different disciplines of medicine will be evaluated and their licences renewed every three to five years under the Continued Medical Education (CME) and Continued Professional Development (CPD) schemes.

Talking to reporters at the Convention Centre on Monday, the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP), Dr Sultan Farooqi, said the college was in the phase of developing these systems under the direction of the government as well as the World Health Organization (WHO).

He said under the new system, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) would renew registration of specialists and consultants every three to five years after the CPSP, which would evaluate uptodate knowledge and professionalism of the doctors, recommended to do so.

Even the participation of consultants in different refresher courses, workshops and seminars would be graded by the CPSP and added to the credit of the doctors.

“We have already initiated mandatory courses in computer and communication skills because we want to see computers at the desk of every consultants with a proper medical record of each patient,” he said.

About the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH), commonly known as Polyclinic, Dr Sultan Farooqi said the college had suspended the recognition of a number of departments of the hospital with a direction to remove deficiencies within six months otherwise the hospital’s recognition would be cancelled.

The recognition of about 150 departments of different public and private organizations had been cancelled because of lack of library facilities, over-worked trainee doctors etc.

Dr Farooqi said the college had also made it mandatory to appoint four trainee doctors for each ward otherwise the college would not recognize the department. Besides, the college had also impressed upon the governors, chief ministers and relevant ministers about the significance of providing a monthly stipend of Rs6,210 to every trainee doctor.

About the recognized status, he said postgraduate degree of the college was equivalent to the MRCP (Member Royal College of Physicians UK) and was accepted in countries like the US, Canada, UK, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. He said the college was the second largest institution in the world after Canada where postgraduate training was given in 57 disciplines while the CPSP provided training in 47 disciplines.

Due to the acceptance of our degrees, the salaries of Pakistani doctors have increased from 6,000 to 16,000 Saudi riyals lately, he added.

The entire anaesthetic department of Ireland and major services in Saudi Arabia were run by the college fellows, he claimed.

Comparing the cost, Dr Farooqi said specialization from England cost $1.5 million at an average while an MBBS doctor from a public institution paid Rs64,000 in five years and the government paid Rs1 million. On the other hand, a private institution receives Rs1.5 million in five years or Rs4 million from an overseas Pakistani or a foreigner.

But, the college receives Rs46,000 during fellowship between three to five years from the trainee doctors as the college does not receive a penny as grant from any sector.

He said the college also provided ‘Qarz-i-Hasna’ to poor students or to doctors who wished to get their training from abroad. He claimed that the recovery rate of the college was 99 per cent, far better than the banking system.

So far the college has produced 10,194 specialists in 31 years while out of 250 dental specialists, 245 were our fellows, he said.

There are 45 medical and dental colleges in Pakistan while 98 different hospitals are recognized where postgraduate training is imparted.

The college has 13 centres in Pakistan where theoretical examinations are conducted, but the practical examination is only conducted in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. In addition, three centres are also working in Kathmandu (Nepal), Riyadh and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). Exams would also be conducted in Kuwait, UAE and Malaysia in the near future, he added.

The government has accepted that no doctor will be appointed in BPS-17 unless he/she has passed FCPS part-I, Dr Farooqi said, adding that with the training of trainee doctors, the quality of patient care had improved a lot.

He said during the last one-and-a-half years, 2,108 doctors have done postgraduation. Out of this, 650 doctors will be awarded degrees in a convocation on Tuesday at the Convention Centre. The rest of the doctors have already been awarded degrees in Lahore and Karachi.