KARACHI: President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) Prof Zafar Ullah Chaudhry on Monday expressed deep concern over a proposal to establish a Sindh college of physicians and surgeons and vowed to resist such an attempt.

Speaking at a press conference accompanied by executive committee members, faculty and fellows at the CPSP Karachi, Prof Zafar said the news published in a section of the press about the establishment of a provincial college of physicians and surgeons in Sindh had created unrest among the fellows and members of the CPSP.

He said the CPSP was a symbol of national dignity and prestige at the international level as its degrees were recognised and respected worldwide. He said at present 85 per cent (20,000 of the 25,000) specialists in the country were degree holders of the CPSP, which was a matter of great honour for the nation.

Prof Chaudhry said the CPSP specialists had been serving in both public and private healthcare sectors of all the provinces and Pakistan armed forces for more than a half century. He said the CPSP had achieved distinction in the world of medicine, and had recently been declared the regional postgraduate medical institution of the world and awarded the coveted Socrates Award by the European Business Assembly on Dec 17, 2013.

He said the CPSP was a totally self-financed and autonomous institution and not a financial parasite on the government. He said the CPSP was providing extensive postgraduate training in various medical disciplines in 179 institutions in the country and 92 institutions abroad to more than 20,000 PG trainees under the supervision of 2,500 qualified supervisors.

He said the CPSP was an autonomous institution and the 18th Amendment of the Constitution could not be applied to it. He said the CPSP management would not allow anyone to use its institution and degree name at any cost. He said such a negative step and the information in that regard would not only compromise the quality of postgraduate medical education but also the uniform standards of medical care to the ailing community.

He said the move was aimed at undermining the CPSP, whose fellows had resolved that they would protect at any cost the sanctity, dignity and prestige of the national institution, which was a symbol of national unity and an icon of postgraduate medical education on the international horizon.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2014