ISLAMABAD: The ad hoc committee of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to computerise the working of the council for the timely redress of citizens’ grievances and to ensure that no one tries to tamper with its records.

The decision will also be helpful in making a database and upgrading the records of the PMDC to take decisions in accordance with the emerging needs of the country.

An official of the council, requesting not to be quoted, said in the past files used to remain on the tables of officers for days and sometimes for weeks. It was not possible to check who was responsible for the delays as the officers used to blame each other in case of a complaint.

“Under the decision of the ad hoc committee, all files will move through a digitised system so that it can be possible to know for how long a file remained with an officer. In the past, complaints were also received that sometimes files were tampered with but the responsible officials could not be traced. But because of the new system, it will become possible to check who tampered with any record,” he said.

The official said it had been decided to introduce the Management Information System (MIS) which would expedite the processing of applications.

“In the past, whenever a postgraduate health expert applied for registration they had to wait for months as their documents needed verifications from the intermediate level. This was followed by the verifications of the graduation (MBBS) and post-graduation records. But under the new system, the verification of all documents will start simultaneously due to which the applicants will get their registration certificates within a fortnight,” he said.

The health practitioners will also be able to submit their documents online and in case of any missing document they will be informed through an e-mail which will save their time.

According to a notification issued by PMDC acting Secretary Arshad Nawaz, the council has introduced e-governance infrastructure. The provision of e-office application software by the Ministry of Information Technology will help bring transparency, accountability and promptness in the decision-making process of the PMDC.

The PMDC in a statement said a meeting chaired by the chairman of the ad hoc council, retired Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, was held to improve and revamp the IT system of the council and to implement the digital system.

Farjeel Javed, the director general, and Bilal Abbasi, the project head, from the National Information Technology Board, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, briefed the meeting about the project.

The digitisation system includes the e-office system, which is the first step towards automating the working and introducing a paperless environment. The system will bring a paradigm shift by eradicating the limitations and drawbacks of physical filing, including tampering with official data and transparency, it said.

Mr Jan said the purpose of the e-office system was to put in place a fast, reliable and transparent system.

On January 12, the PMDC was dissolved by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The court also constituted the nine-member ad hoc committee to run the affairs of the council.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2018