19 May 2004	Wednesday	28 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, May 18: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has expressed deep concern over the ever-increasing examination fee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) in a situation where the majority of postgraduate students receive a small stipend.

PMA -Karachi in a statement issued on Tuesday stated that students end up paying thousands of rupees for compulsory workshops, courses and examination fees, while it was hard to understand what kind of competency was achieved by these workshops and how would they help candidates become to good clinicians.

"It is also not possible for majority ofthe postgraduates to do these courses because of the economic burden," it said, and urged CPSP to review the policy regarding compulsory workshops and courses.

The statement said the college should not demand a minimum number of trainees in each department, as sub-specialties had a small number of trainees, nor was it practical where skills were part of training.

"The decision of CPSP to put restrictions on supervisors to have simultaneous trainees for other qualifications was not acceptable as this deprived candidates of a choice of well-established courses organised by universities," it added.

PMA suggested that CPSP should not spend money on non-productive projects. " We need a simple, humble and prestigious CPSP with a great sense of responsibility for postgraduate medical students and a vision for the suffering patients of this poor country," it said.

PMA strongly supported the demands of professors and academia of Lahore who were trying to develop a system for better training of doctors at teaching hospitals and to find a way out for an affordable examination system.

It stated that PMA Karachi would support the central councillor's of Punjab in PMA's forthcoming central council meeting in Lahore to review PMA's policy on medical education, training and CPSP. -PPI