ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Saira Afzal Tarar will hold a press conference on the future of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on Monday.
As over 100,000 doctors, tens of thousands of students and around 6,000 faculty members in 100 medical and dental colleges and health facilities are directly or indirectly related to the PMDC, they are eager to know about the future of the council.
It may be mentioned that after a two-year tussle between the PMDC and the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), President Mamnoon Hussain on August 28 promulgated the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Amendment Ordinance 2015 after which the executive council of the PMDC stood dissolved.
A new management committee, including retired Maj Gen Azhar Kiyani, Prof Abid Farooqui, Prof Nadeem Rizvi, one representative each from the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Finance, has been formed.
Doctors, students and other stakeholders eager to know about future of the council after abolition of its executive council
An official in the ministry of NHS requesting not to be identified told Dawn that in September 2014 the PMDC filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) complaining that the health ministry was not issuing notifications on decisions taken by the council.
Justice Athar Minallah of the IHC appointed a commission to ascertain if the PMDC was taking right decisions and why the ministry was creating hurdles for it. The three-member commission consisted of former federal minister Dr Sania Nishtar, former federal secretary Ejaz Raheem and physician Dr Syed Fazle Hadi, he said.
The commission came up with recommendations on the basis of which the ministry drafted a law which was promulgated in the shape of an ordinance on Friday, the official added.
According to the ordinance, the number of the executive council members will be reduced from over 100 to just 35. There will be one representative from each of the public sector colleges in four provinces, Fata and Islamabad. One representative each will be from the private colleges in four provinces, Fata and the Islamabad capital territory.
Out of the 35, as many as 20 members will be elected and the remaining nominated (ex-officio) on the basis of their expertise in different fields such as the law. Elections to the council will be held under a representative of the chief justice of Pakistan.
The official said the most important point in the new law was that a conflict of interest would not be allowed. For example, the owners of colleges and other stakeholders cannot become members of the PMDC executive council.
Under the legislation made in 2012, the health ministry had no role in the PMDC but in the new law has a provision that in case of any conflict or controversy, the ministry can interfere and address the issues in the PMDC, he said.
Dr Mirza Ali Azhar, the secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), told Dawn that the former PMDC management had paralysed the working of the council.
“According to rules, there should be at least one faculty member of each subject in each college. There are only 15 professors of forensic medicine and around 50 professors of anatomy all over the country. However, despite the shortage of faculty members, new colleges were allowed to crop up and their number reached 140. About a month ago, the PMDC decided to drop the subject of forensic medicine from the syllabus to facilitate the private colleges, he said.
When contacted, Secretary Health Ayub Sheikh said after the disapproval of the earlier ordinance by the Senate, the law had reverted to the 2012 position wherein the government had absolutely no say in the affairs of the council.
“The commission formed by the IHC furnished well considered recommendations. We drafted a law to reform the process and expect a bright future for the PMDC,” he said.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2015
On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play