KARACHI, Dec 7: Under the Joint Programme Review Mission for 2002-2003, the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) has forwarded a draft policy document on continuing medical education (CME) to the Health ministry for further action.

According to a press release, issued on Sunday, both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Federal Health Ministry mandated the CPSP to develop a national policy for continuing medical education and strategic guidelines.

The CPSP formulated a national CME policy document on the basis of the findings and recommendations of research studies, workshop deliberations, and focus group discussions.

A two-day consultative meeting, which concluded recently, prepared a final draft of the national CME policy and strategic guidelines for implementation.

“A revised draft document will be subsequently presented to the Ministry of Health,” a CPSP spokesman said.

CPSP President Prof M Sultan Farooqui opened the moot with his speech, besides welcoming all the participants.

President, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Prof Hayat Zafar was the chief guest at the concluding session.

Prof Farooqui underscored the need for developing a national CME policy, and for quality assurance of CME programmes in the country, besides giving an overview of international initiatives regarding the CME.

He said these activities were mandatory for maintaining professional standards and quality of health care.

He said the HINARI initiative undertaken by the CPSP in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the WHO, would provide access to medical students to over 2,000 international medical journals.

Pakistan was the first Muslim and developing country, which had been recognized by the developed world for postgraduate medical training, besides being the only country in the region that was a member of the International Association of College and Academy of Presidents, he added.

The moot was aimed at building consensus on the CME policy.

The senior members of medical community, both from the public and private sectors, as well as the armed forces, who are concerned with formulation of policy and strategic guidelines, attended the meeting.—APP