ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on Friday assured the Senate subcommittee on National Health Services (NHS) that council elections would be held in the first week of December.

The subcommittee met to discuss the issues regarding the PMDC and was chaired by Senator Ghous Mohammad Khan Niazi.

The committee asked the newly constituted PMDC management committee to meet all the requirements necessary to hold elections within the stipulated timeframe of 120 days (40 days have already passed).

On August 28, President Mamnoon Hussain promulgated the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Amendment Ordinance 2015, thereby dissolving the PMDC executive council. A new management committee was then formed, made up of retired Maj-Gen Azhar Kiyani, Prof Abid Farooqi, Prof Nadeem Rizvi, and others. The committee was asked to hold executive council elections within 120 days and oversee day-to-day affairs.

The Ordinance has yet to be debated in the Parliament.

However, there is an impression that the new management committee is more interested in streamlining issues within the council.

PMDC Registrar retired Brig Dr Hafizuddin Ahmed Siddiqui, while briefing the committee, claimed that the council’s management fully intended to hold elections and was addressing issues facing the PMDC at the same time.

Council’s management has sent letters to 80 colleges, seeking lists of faculty members and voters

“It has been decided that the council elections will be held in the first week of December. The council’s management has sent letters to 80 colleges, seeking lists of faculty members and voters,” he said.

Siddiqui said that arrangements were under way to hold the elections where assistant professors, associate professors and professors will vote. Approximately 8,000 voters will vote in the elections.

Siddiqui added that it was necessary to resolve the longstanding issues in the PMDC.

“The registration of doctors was pending for a long time, due to which doctors were suffering. Within three weeks, the new management has renewed the registration of 5,510 doctors, besides issuing 226 experience certificates to doctors because those are required for promotions,” he said.

He said that the PMDC management had also waived the National Examination Board (NEB) test for foreign students because they were not able to practice without passing it.

The NEB was started by the former management due to complaints that some medical students did not receive quality education abroad, which could be dangerous if they began practicing medicine without meeting education standards.

The subcommittee directed the PMDC officials to come to the committee if the council is unable to hold elections within the allotted timeframe. The council was also asked to provide a timeline outlining how the management committee intends to complete the assigned tasks.

Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015

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