I AM a doctor working in a private hospital in Karachi. Recently I got an opportunity for a foreign fellowship. One of the requirements of the fellowship was to obtain certain documents from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). The list of the documents included a letter of good standing and a letter of experience.

I applied for the documents about two months back. Since then I haven’t heard from the PMDC regarding the progress of my documents. I have called almost every telephone number that I could get but no one picks up the phone.

If once a week someone picks up the phone, he says that this is the wrong department and that I should call the operator to get to the right department. I have been calling all the numbers on which the operator is supposed to respond after the automated message but he has never responded till yet.

I wonder if someone is not from Islamabad or Rawalpindi and cannot go to the PMDC office personally to inquire about his issue, there is no way he can contact or get information.

The information on the website is limited. The email addresses mentioned on the website never respond. The PMDC takes loads of time to process documents if you send it to them by post.

There is no way a doctor sitting outside Islamabad or Rawalpindi can inquire about their problems. The PMDC charges hefty fee for documents that every doctor has a right to get. They charge a very heavy membership fee also. But in return the PMDC never seems to do its job properly or facilitate any doctor.

I would appeal to the relevant authorities to look into the current state of affairs of the PMDC.

A TROUBLED DOCTOR Karachi