ISLAMABAD: Despite holding a number of meetings, the Senate standing committee on national health services is yet to take a decision on College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP)’s demand for a permanent seat in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

The matter has to be decided before the passage of the PMDC Ordinance, which has been passed by the National Assembly and tabled in the Senate. Efforts are being made to pass the ordinance as soon as possible because it will expire on April 25.

The CPSP had a permanent seat in the PMDC but after the promulgation of the 2015 ordinance the number of the seats was reduced from 85 to 36 due to which some institutions, including the CPSP, lost their membership.

The CPSP filed an application with the standing committee claiming that it produced 90pc doctors and should have a seat in the council. After a number of hearings chaired by Senator Sajjad Hussain Turi, the matter was referred to a sub-committee on April 6 for a final decision as both the PMDC and the ministry of national health services claimed that the CPSP had no right to get membership in the council.

When the matter was taken up at the meeting of the sub-committee chaired by Senator Ghous Mohammad Niazi on Friday, Secretary NHS Ayub Sheikh said the PMDC law was amended in 2012 as a result of which the CPSP got the membership. However, he added, the functioning of the council suffered.

“The Islamabad High Court formed a three-member commission in 2015 which after consultation with all stakeholders decided that a conflict of interest should not be allowed in the council and that the number of members of the council should be reduced,” he said.

When the PMDC was established in 1962, the CPSP had no representation in it but after 50 years the law was amended and the CPSP given the membership, he said.

Senator Niazi directed the secretary NHS to submit detailed proposals during the next meeting of the committee.

At an earlier meeting of the committee, President PMDC Dr Shabbir Lehri had also ruled out the possibility of giving membership to the CPSP.

He said the seat of the CPSP was removed along with that of university syndicates. Moreover, there were 23,195 doctors of the CPSP registered with the council and 23,254 others. The registered doctors of the University of Punjab are 39,000 and the fellows of University of Health Sciences are 25,000. If the CPSP is given a seat in the PMDC, the other institutions will also seek a similar facility, he added.

Director publications and media, CPSP, Nawaz Butt told Dawn that the PMDC and the ministry did not provide correct information to the standing committee during the meetings.

“First of all, the CPSP, PMDC and PMRC were established at the same time in 1962, so the CPSP could not get a seat in the PMDC. We claim that we produce 90pc specialists but the PMDC rejects it by saying that there are tens of thousands of graduates from other institutions.” He said according to the PMDC website, there were 36,451 specialists in Pakistan. “Our specialists are over 23,000 and this shows that the CPSP has produced more specialists than all the other institutions.”

Mr Butt said the curriculum of the medical education needed to be improved and the CPSP was ready to play its role to improve the quality of education at the MBBS level.

“Last year, 15,000 medical graduates participated in the CPSP exams and only 20pc of them managed to pass. Unfortunately, when MBBS graduates come to the CPSP, they even do not know how to wear a gown,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2016