KARACHI: A group of doctors of Pakistani origin working in the United States on Tuesday expressed concern over the ‘deteriorating’ standards of Pakistani medical education that caused a huge decrease in the demand of Pakistani medics in the US.

“Just 127 Pakistani doctors could get jobs last year in United States training programme, a figure that has no comparison with more than 800 jobs grabbed by Indian doctors,” said Dr Naseem Aziz Shekhani, president of the National Health Forum, US, while speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club.

He said in the not too distant past when Pakistani doctors would secure jobs in the US equal to their Indian counterparts.

“All this shows medical education in Pakistan has lost its previous standards and a recent report of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in the US also expressed its concerns over the falling standards of medical education in our country,” he said.

He said none of scores of medical colleges in Pakistan was working in accordance with the standards specified by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), medical staff was not available in many medical colleges and those who worked there worked part time. Some of the colleges had even no affiliated hospitals, he added.

“It is a matter of high concern that the PMDC had approved more than a few medical colleges which had no staff while many medical colleges in the public and private sectors had increased their seats and raised fees manifold.”

“I have to say it with a heavy heart that medical education in Pakistan is heading to a total disaster,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2015

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