I AM writing this letter hoping justice will be done to the hard working and poorly-paid medical professionals of the country. The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) recently conducted a written examination for doctors which is an entry level Part 1 examination consisting of two papers administered in a single day. A pass in the examinations is required to enter postgraduate medical training in the country after attaining an MBBS qualification.

This examination was conducted at various hotel premises all over the country on Nov 12. Recently, the CPSP came up with an idea of trying to conduct the examinations on-line as well. In this regard, it asked candidates to apply for either the online or paper module of the examinations. The date set for the online examinations was Nov 13, to be conducted at Karachi and Lahore at the CPSP premises itself. I personally applied for the online module. The examination paper to be administered online was for candidates who are appearing in the general medicine specialty only.

To remind again, the paper module candidates had already appeared for the examinations a day earlier. By late night on Nov 12 almost all of the questions were posted to social media websites (namely Facebook), which have many medical professional groups established.

I had no clue that the questions were recalled by my colleagues and were posted overnight for discussion. The ‘exact’ same paper which was administered to candidates sitting in the general medicine examination on Nov 12 was re-administered online at the CPSP premises on Nov 13.

Luckily the ones who had been in touch with their social media pages and other colleagues a night before found the examination to be a piece of cake, understandably. I walked out of the CPSP head campus in Karachi with sheer frustration, dejection and a sense of hopelessness.

This letter is a plea to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, as well as to other high government functionaries, to stand up for the young doctors of the country and provide them justice.

A Sufferer

Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 21th, 2014