02 November 2004	Tuesday	18 Ramazan 1425

QUETTA, Nov 1: Dr Luqman Hakeem, Chairman of the Balochistan Medical Association, has demanded recogniton of the Bolan Medical College by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.

Speaking at a Press Conference here on Monday, he said it was a pity and a matter of great concern that the college had not been recognized by the PMDC despite the passage of 31 years since its establishment in 1973.

He said Balochistan medical students were facing problems due to non-recognition of the BMC by the PMDC," he said, adding that the authorities concerned had deliberately tried to keep the province backward in the medical education.

Dr Luqman also criticized the admission policy of the government for Post-Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI) and demanded that it should be changed and candidates should be given admissions on the basis of district-wise quota instead of conducting entry tests.

"Deserving doctors are not getting admissions to the PGMI due to the present admission system" he claimed and demanded that all admissions given on the basis of the present system should be cancelled and fresh admissions should be given.

Dr Luqman said that health department should ensure provision of medicines and other required facilities in all district and provincial-level hospitals. He also demanded increase in the quota of medicines in hospitals.

He asked the government to give due attention to problems of specialist cadre and fill around 40 vacant vacancies of the post-graduate doctors in the province.

He said the province badly needed a services general hospital and government should give the Shiekh Zayed Medical Complex the status of services and general hospital.

He said that doctors in the province were facing a lot of problems due to absence of any service structure.