KARACHI, May 30: Thirty two of the medical and dental colleges, including eight in the public sector and 26 in private sector, only partially meet the required criteria of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and have till date not been fully recognised by the latter.
PMDC Acting Secretary Dr Mohammad Rashid Anjum talking to journalists here on Monday said the Aga Khan Medical College was the only private sector medical college that had been fully recognised by the PMDC while all others hold the provisional recognition of the PMDC.
Dr Anjum responding to a query said the provisional recognition was granted to the above mentioned institutions as they partially met the strict criteria of the PMDC and had provided firm commitment to meet the shortcomings, mainly noticed in terms of shortage of faculty members besides the fact that they had to be attached with a hospital facility of minimum 500 beds for every 100 students.
Provision for updated and appropriately equipped labs, size of classes etc are also some of the criteria, he said when reminded of the medical colleges being run in residential bungalows.
According to him since none of the medical or dental colleges intending to offer admissions need prior permission of the PMDC nor could they be closed (if failing to meet the PMDC standards) as per directives or submissions of PMDC hence the PMDC could not stop any of the substandard institutions from functioning — though it may be a major compromise against the standard of education as well as health care.
“There are also marked lacunae in the PMDC Act 1962 and a proposal along with a copy of comprehensive amendments in the very act has been sent to the concerned authorities — Ministry of Health,” he said mentioning that due action is as yet awaited to accord authority status to the PMDC, a regulatory body.
Dr Anjum said that the council despite its limitation was braving difficult situations to address the scenario and under the very strategy had asked all public and private medical and dental colleges to send a computerised list of their faculty members.
The list has to be attached with relevant details as dates of their respective enrolment, duration of service as per agreement between each of these teachers and concerned educational institution, subject of specialisation of these teacher and proper contract copies, he added.
So far 60 per cent of all fully and partially recognised medical and dental teaching institutions have forwarded the required details to the PMDC, Dr Anjum said.
He further stated this was to contain the situation where one medical teacher could be witnessed to be simultaneously among the faculty members of two to three medical colleges or even more.
“This is a common practice to deceive the inspection teams visiting the colleges that may had applied for PMDC recognition,” he said.
Dr Anjum further mentioned that besides medical and dental colleges that had been partially recognised by the PMDC there also were institutions which were inspected by the PMDC but not recognised and institutions which neither had been inspected nor had approached for PMDC recognition but being run without any check or action by the health departments of concerned provinces.
The medical colleges that had never been registered with the PMDC but offering admissions and have also started with teaching programmes include Sardar Mohammad Mahar Medical College — Sukkur, Shaikh Zaid Medical College — Rahimyar Khan in public sector along with Jinnah Medical College, Peshawar, Abbotabad International Medical College, University College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore, Al Huda Medical College, Lahore, International Medical College, Faisalabad, Islamabad Medical and Dental College.
“Ironically most of these colleges are functioning for more than two years without PMDC recognition which ultimately would have dire consequences for students who may have sought admissions there,” the PMDC Secretary commented reminding that the students cannot seek registration with the PMDC, a condition prerequisite for all medical professionals willing to practice medicine in any part of the country or abroad.
According to PMDC officials a summary has been sent to the Federal Ministry of Health to close these medical and dental colleges.
Dr Anjum and other senior members of the PMDC including Prof Mohammad Afzal, Principal, Khyber Medical Dental College and DUHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Masood Hameed answering queries raised by journalists regretted that people themselves appeared to be taking grave risks against future of their children.
Elaborating their stance, they said in certain cases despite advertisements and prominently published denials in local dailies by the Ministry of Health and the PMDC as well as other institutions in response to false claims of the above cited unregulated institutions -parents went forward to get their children admitted.
They particularly referred to the instance of Islamabad Medical and Dental College, which started functioning in 1996 on the basis of fake claims which were promptly denied yet they continued seeking admission and then sought affiliation with the Baqai Medical University.
The college ultimately realizing that degrees of its undergraduates would not be recognized made an arrangement with the Baqai Medical and Dental College and the students were shown as enrolled with the latter for their remaining two to three year MBBS course.
They further informed that the PMDC sticking to its principled stand had refused to budge in face of all sorts of pressures and had asked the concerned students to appear before National Exam Board. This was said to be an arrangement under which medical and dental professionals willing to practice in Pakistan need to qualify an exam conducted by the PMDC.
On the occasion serious reservations regarding the role of private varsities were also expressed by the PMDC officials as few of them appeared to be directly involved in fleecing unassuming students.
It was mentioned with deep concern that one of the major medical universities had been found to be indulged in giving admissions to the students beyond their stipulated capacity besides involving in granting admissions to foreign students without required approval of the government.
Meanwhile discussing the issue of provisional registration, they said Gomal Medical University — Dera Ismail Khan, Saidu Sharif Medical College — Swat, Dental Section of Nishtar Medical College, Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore, Dental Section of Ayub Medical College — Abbotabad, Dental Section of Karachi Medical and Dental College, happened to be among the institutions that had been granted provisional registration and till date they had not been able to meet the required criteria paving their way for their full fledged registration.
The officials attributed the scenario to the fact that despite a summary presented by the former federal health secretary, Ejaz Rahim, to the then prime minister in 1999 seeking amendments in the PMDC and making it an autonomous body but no concrete measures could be taken as per the recommendations. — APP
