ISLAMABAD: The new management of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has formed a three-member committee for making improvements in the National Examination Board (NEB).

PMDC President Prof Dr Shabeer Lehri told Dawn the council was considering the inclusion of more practical work in the exam and that foreign graduates will be asked to diagnose and suggest treatment for a patient in front of examiners instead of doing so via a simulator.

“Registering foreign graduates without confirming if they have been given quality training and education is like issuing a licence to kill,” he said.

Foreign medical graduates will now be asked to diagnose and treat patients in front of examiners

NEB is conducted by PMDC for medical students who have graduated from foreign universities. The exam was introduced after complaints were received that doctors who have been trained in languages other than English have problems when treating patients. There had also been complaints about the quality of education some of these foreign graduates had received.

Through an Act of Parliament, it was made mandatory in 2012 for foreign students to clear NEB. Some postgraduates with qualifications like diplomas from the American Board and UK’s FRCPS are exempt from the exam.

“We want to make the exam more credible and harder to go around. I have heard of question papers leaked to candidates by courier companies and even an airline. We want the examiners to be able to observe the graduates while practically treating patients,” Dr Lehri said.

The PMDC president also met with doctors and asked them about the problems they faced when submitting their papers and also for their suggestions for improving the registration system.

According to a notification available with Dawn, the committee for improving NEB includes Allama Iqbal Medical College Lahore Principal Prof Dr Mehmood Shaukat, Vice Chancellor of Fatima Jinnah Medical University Lahore Prof Dr Sardar Fakhar Imam and Principal of Nishtar Medical College Multan Prof Dr Kamran Salick.

The notification states the committee will supervise the conduction of exams in a transparent manner and will supervise and liaison with concerned universities to this end.

The committee will be ensuring that the format for NEB’s step III is clinic based to better judge the competency of graduates. It will ensure the compilation of exams in a transparent manner and will prepare lists of credible examiners after consultation with the University of Health Sciences Lahore.

The next Step III exam is scheduled for February 11, 12 and 13 of this year.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2016