ISLAMABAD: On the intervention of the secretary, National Health Services, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to register degrees of 700 FCPS (Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons) doctors.

Earlier, the PMDC had refused to register the FCPS degrees issued by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) to those students who completed their masters from unrecognised institutions.

However, in future the degrees issued by unrecognised institutions will not be registered.

The PMDC registrar, Dr Amjad Mahmood, told mediapersons on July 8 that degrees of students, who have completed FCPS from unrecognised institutions, would not be registered.

Moreover, he suggested that students should ensure that the institutions in which they intended to get admission were recognised by the council otherwise they would suffer and create problems for the PMDC.

Dr Amjad also said the list of PMDC approved/recognised training institutions with degree awarding status had been put on the PMDC’s official website.

However, Secretary National Health Services Rashida Malik in a letter, available with Dawn, directed the PMDC to process all pending applications for registration.

The secretary stated in the letter that the government had given one-time amnesty to almost 700 fellows.

However, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan should realise its responsibility as per Section 16 of the PMDC Ordinance 1962, and get the institutions recognised with the PMDC, the letter said.

She stated that being the controlling authority of both the CPSP and the PMDC she gave six months to College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan to initiate the process in this regard.

The PMDC president, Prof Dr Masood Hameed Khan, in an official statement, said that the council had taken prompt action on the directions of the secretary and had started registering the fellows.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2014