| June 23, 2003 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 22,1424 |
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Depth of callousness
Controversy over LFO
Enigma of change
To be a graduate
Security for Israel
Ibn Khaldun
Unemployment
Company secretary’s qualifications
THIS is with reference to Prof Manzar Salim, Dr. Nouman I. Alvi and Prof Sulaiman Ahmad Khan’s letters published in Dawn on June 11, 18 and 19, respectively, regarding the CPSP.
The CPSP, established in 1962, now offers fellowship in 48 and membership in 10 disciplines and has so far produced 10,714 specialists who constitute 80 per cent of the total medical specialist manpower in the country, and are registered with the PMDC. The CPSP today enjoys international recognition for its qualifications in several countries, including the UK, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Bangladesh and Nepal.
It is a wrong impression that the CPSP is merely an examining body. The charter categorically empowers the CPSP to render multiple functions to achieve its objectives such as:
* To promote specialist practice of medicine, surgery and allied specialties by improving the standard of teaching and training in hospitals and hospital methods.
* To provide for research.
* To bring together physicians, surgeons and other specialists of Pakistan periodically for scientific discussions and practical demonstrations of various subjects.
In order to ensure induction of standardized fellowship training, the status of a medical institution is evaluated as accredited or otherwise by conducting a physical inspection of the institution. The inspection is conducted not only at the time of accreditation but also periodically as and when the need arises to facilitate proper monitoring of the training programme.
The accreditation of any training slot is based on certain criteria which include availability of physical facilities in terms of equipment, specialist manpower, workload per trainee both indoor and outdoor, besides approved supervisors and the supporting infrastructure. It is on this count that when certain slots are accredited, the numbers of candidates who can be trained on these slots at any given time are simultaneously identified.
The induction of other training programmes vis-a-vis FCPS-II training dilutes the intensity of training programme by increasing the prescribed number of trainees for the approved slot. The laid- down criteria for training in a tertiary care hospital having approved supervisor, required infrastructure and necessary facilities, is two candidates per year per supervisor (with a maximum of eight candidates at any given time).
Nevertheless, the CPSP does not want to stop other training programmes in any institution but the number of trainees undergoing training for other programmes are deducted from the prescribed number of FCPS-II training slots in that institution. The CPSP’s modus operandi regarding the payment of stipend does not need any elaboration. It is the legitimate right of the FCPS-II trainees to be paid a mandatory stipend equivalent to the basic salary of the existing government pay scale of grade-17.
A candidate has to pay Rs9,000 as exit examination fee after induction in the FCPS-II training programme spread over four to five years. The examination fees have not been increased for the last two years and remains frozen for the next four years. Until now the CPSP was charging a total of Rs18,000 to Rs22,000 for the entire fellowship training programme, including anticipation in mandatory workshops on the pattern of sister institutions the world over. In the course of fellowship training, they are taught how to operate computer, the Internet, trained in research methodology, biostatistics and dissertation writing, surgical and communication skills.
However, to assist financially the deserving candidates who cannot afford to pay the fee in lumpsum, Qarz-i-Hasna is provided to them from the CPSP Trust to cater the financial need of the trainees. Under this scheme, millions of rupees have so far been distributed among trainees.
It is a wrong notion that the Royal colleges of the UK do not accredit institutions for imparting training for the MRCP, FRCS and MRCOG examinations. In fact, both supervisors/tutors and institutions are accredited before the induction of any training programme on behalf of the Royal Colleges of the UK and Ireland.
Questioning the standard of CPSP qualifications and transparency of its examination system is unwarranted in the light of the international accreditation it has achieved over the years, particularly by the Joint Committee of Higher Medical Training of the UK. The JCHMT represents all the royal colleges of the United Kingdom, recognizes the fellowship of the CPSP at par with MRCP for the purpose of entry on the specialist register maintained by the General Medial Council, UK. The Saudi Council for Health Specialties also recognizes the FCPS at par with MRCP and FRCS awarded by the royal colleges of the UK for the purpose of appointment as consultants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Such recognition reflects a trust and confidence reposed in the CPSP and its high standard of education and training by international institutions of distinction and accredited agencies of global repute.
Doubting the calibre of the CPSP management shows the lack of knowledge of the writers. The CPSP is being run by a 20-member elected council. The councillors are not only fellows of the CPSP but most of them possess foreign qualifications of the royal colleges of the UK and almost everyone of them has honorary fellowship of either the UK royal colleges, or of renowned sister institutions in recognition of his immense academic contribution and professional calibre.
In the light of the above-mentioned facts, the measures taken by the CPSP Council against the defaulting medical institutions are, prima facie, legitimate, justified and unavoidable in the larger interest of post-graduate medical education in the country.
M. IMTIAZ ALI
Sr. Executive Officer,
CPSP, Karachi
HOW far hatred and callousness among the officialdom of Pakistan and India has spread vis-a-vis the nationals of other country may be gauged from the following incident which my friend and an old class-fellow of school days, Wing Commander (retd) Farokh J. Mehta, has brought to my notice from Hyderabad, Deccan.
Mehta is a secular person. His wife is a Muslim. His Urdu and Persian are far better than mine. His only daughter is also Muslim and has married a Pakistani Muslim and they are settled in the US. They have two daughters, one five-year-old and the other only three-month-old.
Last month they applied for Indian visa to visit Farokh J. Mehta. The daughter is an Indian American while the husband is a Pakistani American (and a Muslim). The daughter has been given Indian visa but the husband — a Pakistani American and a Muslim — has been refused visa. What is even more callous, the young daughters, who are neither Indian American, nor Pakistani Americans but born Americans have also been refused Indian visa because the father is a Pakistani Muslim, even though now an American citizen.
Did the authorities who refused the visa to the small children imagine even in their wildest dreams that the mother could utilize the visa granted to her and go to India after leaving her three-month-old daughter in the US with the father?
An almost similar treatment was meted out to me. My niece was being married in Lucknow on Feb 22. I sent an e-mail, followed by its copy by registered post, to the Indian high commission in Islamabad, telling them that, with the closure of air, road and rail links with India and the via Dubai option being too costly for me, the only route my wife and I could use to go to India to attend the marriage was the land route via Wagha to Attari whereby we could cross the border on foot to Attari, take a taxi from there to the Amritsar railway station and thence forward could travel by train.
I asked the high commission to inform me whether under the existing rules and regulations visa through this route could be granted so that, if the answer were in the affirmative, we would like to apply for the visa. Far from sending a positive answer, my letters were not even acknowledged and the request was not even formally regretted. Needless to say, we could not attend the marriage.
I may hasten to add that this is not just the Indian attitude, in Pakistan it is hardly different. We would have also behaved in the same manner if such a situation had arisen before our consular service in America.
Are they (or for that matter, we too) solving the Kashmir problem by showing this callousness to a purely humanitarian problem? It is time sanity and sense were restored to our diplomatic and consular services and they behaved a bit more humanely in such cases.
JUSTICE (R) SALAHUDDIN MIRZA
Karachi
WE took part in Election 2002 in the hope that democracy would be put back on the track, evils of the past would be eliminated and our elected representatives would play their assigned role of making laws and implementing them for the relief of the 140 million people living in this part of the world.
All eyes were set on the inauguration of parliament, but from the very first session till to date, there has been nothing except the thumping of the desks by the opposition members in protest against the Legal Framework Order. This we can rightly term as the convulsion of the universe in its early days.
The last federal budget session, too, proved to be an sorry experience. Is it what we expect from our parliament? Of course, the opposition has the right to have a different opinion on the LFO, but it should not be at the cost of the electorate.
May I suggest that the opposition fix some 15-20 minutes for a peaceful protest and utilize the remaining time of the session for legislation and see whether the LFO causes any hindrance in the implementation of their legislation?
ABDUL SALAM DADABHOY
Karachi
THE enigma of change is a comprehensive analysis of a nation with lost originality and missing purpose. It continues to be ruled by an authoritarian regime, not being aware what might come next to make things worse. Indeed, it is a nation floating with no institutional system to evolve genuine leadership for the present or the future.
An equally important question is: how to make the Pakistani nation understand that it is set on a destructive course unless the new generation of educated, intelligent and accountable people come to assume the leadership role and strive for a planned change in the major domains of life. Pakistanis will lose on all fronts vis-a-vis India, Kashmir and global power politics, as it has been doing so effectively for the last 50 years. So far, the egoistic leaders and the major political actors appear to have neglected the vitality of “change” and reform.
Today, Pakistan is again under the military rule without any legitimate system of government, and $46 billion of the World Bank debt. Although unable to repay its annual interest, it maintains a body with fractured bones and all its energies are being sucked by the ruling elite.
The question must be addressed: how can we change the nation and its mode of thinking and to rebuild the missing reality of the ideological goal for an Islamic democratic Pakistan, providing a sense of viable identity to its citizens, equal opportunities and security to the present generation and solid framework of optimism
DR MAHBOOB A. KHAWAJA
USA (via e-mail)
THE burning of a copy of the Sindh budget by a woman member (June 17) confirms that she is surely a graduate but I shall confirm this further as soon as I find one example of the “burning”, not tearing, by any other member of the assembly of any other country. This could only happen in Pakistan where the house accepts everything.
Being a taxpayer, I wish I could sue her in a court for the loss of the burnt papers which cost me the following expenses: the cost of the entire ministry of finance and its staff, salaries, etc. The MPA has not only burnt the budget papers but the hearts of many taxpayers like me. If she feels she is right, she should have written or suggested something about the budget but for that she has to be graduated in finance.
I am not a so-called graduate but I understand that it must have taken a lot of time and manpower to prepare the budget papers which she probably could not read in haste. Let me tell the member of the Sindh Assembly that I love Pakistan. This is my country and my identity, as well as yours.
ALIM KHAN
Karachi
DURING the past week, in attacks and counter-attacks between Palestinians and Israelis, more than 50 people have been killed. Israel blames Hamas for threatening its security and vows to kill Hamas leaders. An Israeli minister said that Israel must “wage a war to the bitten end” against militant Hamas.
President Bush has mildly rebuked Israel for its attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders attempts that usually precede retaliatory suicide attacks by Hamas members.
On the question of security, Henry Kissinger remarked, “The desire of one power for security means absolute insecurity of all others.”
PROF (DR) P. NASIR
Gujrat
WITH deep respect for Mr M. J. Sayeed (his letter of June 16), I may submit that no human is perfect but, persons like Wali Al-Din Abd-Ar Rahman, the great grandson of Khaldun, whether they belong to the East or the West, irrespective of their eras, are institutions in themselves and great heritage of all mankind.
Ibn Khaldun is loved and admired by the developed nations of the world for his great masterpieces (i) “Muqaddimah (“Trial” and Verdict on History): six volumes on general sociology, politics, urban life, economics, knowledge”, and ii) “Ilm al-imran (the science of culture). It is our misfortune that his masterpieces are not available to us here even in the archives.
Ibn Khaldun was dismissed from the position of the chief judge, because of his unfavourable views and judgments (later reinstated). He was besieged in Damascus by the armies of Timor. He was lowered down from the top of the fort walls for negotiations. He rescued the besieged civilians whereas his family perished in the sea. Persons like him are symbols of honour and respect.
His contemporaries might be known for their association with him but he is not known for his association with them.
ABDULLAH MAHESAR
Islamabad
Our exports have crossed $10 billion mark, the Karachi Stock Exchange has been named the best performing stock exchange in the world, foreign remittances have come in huge numbers, and commercial banks are overflowing with money these days. According to our finance minister, every economic indicator is positive.
So, why has, at the same time, unemployment increased from 5.89 to 7.82 per cent in the outgoing financial year? Are all the economic indicators and employment inversely proportional in nature?
Niaz H. Jafri
Karachi
I AM glad to see the press release issued by the SECP which appeared in newspapers on May 21, confirming that the name of “chartered secretary” has been included in the prescribed qualification of company secretary.
Further, in connection with the recognition of educational institutions set-up under licences issued by the SECP under Section 42 of Companies Ordinance 1984, the following questions should have been contemplated and sorted out at the very outset at the time of issuing the licence:
1. The first question is: what is the value of licence issued by the SECP under Section 42 of Companies Ordinance, 1984? The terms of licence, inter alia, state that the institute shall be:
(a) A public company limited by guarantee.
(b) It will be a non-profit organization.
(c) The members and office-bearers shall not draw any salary or profit for the services rendered but shall, however, be reimbursed for the expenses incurred for or on behalf of the institute.
(d) The institute shall operate on a self-financing basis.
2. Generally, persons qualifying their examinations are told by the employers that these are private bodies and hence employment is denied to them. Those students who qualify the examinations of these licensed institutes spend a substantial amount of money on fees, conveyance, books and stationery, besides the time and efforts devoted to the studies. All these go down the drain when one experiences this disappointment.
3. Considering the plight of these students and members, one has the right to ask: who is responsible for their miseries? Those who are already employed in companies, public corporations and autonomous bodies are denied the right to claim professional qualification allowance / increment and consideration for promotion. The management demands that such employees shall submit the proof of equivalence with the ICAP and ICMA whose members enjoy these privileges.
These institutes on the request of their members and students have issued a detailed statement as to the statutory and professional status of these institutes, specifically stating that the institutes are not private bodies but are public companies with no profit-earning motive and are, therefore, generally for public benefit and have functions similar to the professional accounting bodies.
But regrettably they have not been able to understand what it means and all efforts have been in vain. The employers, students and also generally the educators in this country do not seem to understand the meaning of recognition and professional education in the true sense. They think that the grant of statutory autonomy or some kind of legal cover begets recognition. What is then the status of the licence issued under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance 1984, which is in fact a powerful and comprehensive law under which the institutes are established.
I think it is an implied recognition and the SECP while issuing such licences shall insert a separate clause therein, stating that the institute is a recognized body. Otherwise, there is no point in granting such licences as have no virtual effect and no benefit as it does not help the institute to achieve its educational objects provided in their memorandum of association.
Such licences also do not help the students who pursue the courses in the hope that these will prove helpful in their career. Regrettably the whole exercise results in wasteful expenditure, loss of precious time and money and utter disappointment.
As far as the students and members of these institutes are concerned they consider the SECP responsible for these deplorable conditions.
4. Under the circumstances the only alternative left for the SECP is to support and protect their licensed institutes, in the larger interest of their students and members, through legislative measures as is being done in the case of members of Institute of Corporate and Chartered Secretaries.
MUHAMMAD HANEEF
Karachi
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