ISLAMABAD, May 28: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Act 1973 is deficient on many aspects and needs statutory mechanism to discipline or penalize institutions lacking requisite standards of medical education. “The council is also non-accommodating towards private medical institutions which are 50 per cent of the total 52 medical colleges, many of which are even provisionally recognized by the council,” Senator Dr Abdullah Riar told Dawn here on Saturday.

Senator Riar, who heads a four-member sub-committee of the Senate standing committee on health, said the committee was close to finalizing its recommendations to amend the act. After visiting few private institutions, the recommendations would be submitted to the standing committee next month to be presented in the shape of a bill before parliament for approval.

In no way the recommendations intend to discredit or undermine the sanctity of a prestigious body like PMDC which had done a remarkable job of supervising and upholding standards of medical education in the country during 1970s, he said.

The sub-committee was constituted early this month to oversee issues obstructing smooth functioning of the PMDC, accreditation of private medical colleges and recognition of students of private institutions. The controversy over registration of medical graduates from Baqai Medical University, Karachi, and the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, with the PMDC had forced the Senate to take the matter into its hands.

Dr Riar said the 1962 ordinance, which became an act of parliament in 1973, was silent on areas dealing with institutions failing to keep up standards of medical profession. Presently, the council is toothless and lacks powers to take action against the delinquent institutions, he said.

Similarly, he added, the council was without representation from the private sector institutions.

Out of the 26 private sector institutions, only the Aga Khan University is recognized while eight medical colleges (six in private and two in public sectors) are not recognized at all, said Senator Riar.

The rest of the private institutes are provisionally recognized — a term not acknowledged by the Act itself.

The number of unrecognized students of different colleges are close to 900, though the total number of students of all the 52 medical and dental colleges is about 4,000.

He said the sub-committee was looking for the possible role of private sector in the council while maintaining quality of education, representation of both private institutions and their teaching faculty. The committee has already heard the points of view of the students of non-accreditated institutions, Pakistan Association of Private Medical Institutions and the PMDC.

Appreciating the role of the PMDC, Senator Riar said the quality of medical education was such that Pakistani medical graduates were always respected and recognized by General Medical Council of United Kingdom and United States Foreign Medical Graduates Regulatory Body. Though the law governing PMDC affairs has a role of the federal government, apparently at that time, the government took a backseat allowing council to have a proactive role.

With the emergence of a new concept of private institutions in the country during the last decade, the council is virtually silent on regulating this sector, especially when the students of these institutions have graduated but were not being recognized, he added.