ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to ask the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) to impose a moratorium on the registration of new medical colleges, which have already exceeded the acceptable number.

PMDC President Dr Shabbir Lehri believes that a moratorium is the only way to ensure the quality of medical education, institution and students.

NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh said the ministry would consider the recommendation if it is forwarded by the council. He said appropriate action will be taken after the recommendation is received.

Although the quality of medical education is under criticism and the availability of faculty members is a problem in Pakistan, on June 30, the NHS ministry forwarded a list of 20 new applications to PMDC for medical college registrations.

Ministry to consider recommendation if forwarded by council, NHS secretary says

The council has begun the registration process, which includes scrutinising the applications, looking into the financial and legal status of institutions and physical inspections. The process will be completed by Oct 31 this year, and the names of the approved colleges will be forwarded to the ministry for an official notification.

Dr Lehri told Dawn there were two aspects to the issue. First, there is a requirement for doctors, and more colleges should be established so that people can receive healthcare.

“On the other hand, it is a fact that there is currently a severe crisis of faculty members, due to which colleges have been stealing faculty members from each other. Faculty members are also taking benefit of the situation and have been demanding high salaries,” he said.

“We were not expecting the ministry to send us a list of 20 applicants for registration of medical colleges. There should be a moratorium on new medical colleges as long as a faculty development programme is not started. We will send the request, in writing, to the ministry to impose moratoriums.”

Dr Lehri is not the only one who believes there should be a moratorium on the registration of new medical colleges. The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), a representative body of doctors, has also expressed concerns about the rise in medical colleges.

A statement issued by the association this month claimed that most medical colleges are owned by influential and well-connected individuals, and their reason for establishing the college is not about medical education but profit.

“Fact of the matter is that there are already 144 medical and dental colleges in the country, more private, but as far as the teaching and training facilities are concerned, with the exception of few one, all lacking the basic PMDC requirements,” statement said.

PMA Secretary General Dr Qaisar Sajjad said he was shocked to hear about the establishment of new medical colleges. He said instead of opening new medical colleges, the existing ones need improvement.

“We do not have 144 professors of basic medical sciences or 144 500 bed hospitals with training facilities in the country. That means we are imparting substandard medical education to produce substandard medical graduates to run this unfortunate nation’s healthcare. I can surely say the students [who] graduated from substandard colleges cannot identify patients’ problems,” Dr Sajjad said.

According an official from the NHS ministry, although efforts to ban the transfer of faculty members from one college to another are ongoing, it is not practical.

“Medical colleges are not the armed forces, so faculty members cannot be stopped from leaving under the Essential Services Ordinance. The only possible way is to reduce the number of medical colleges in the country, because only that is how the quality of education will be ensured,” he said.

“Once there was demand for Pakistani doctors abroad, because they had very good clinical experience. Now, colleges don’t have the required number of beds and patients in affiliated hospitals, so the quality of new medical graduates is continuously worsening,” he said.

A PMDC official said the council should take steps to encourage foreign faculty members to come and teach in Pakistan.

However, some voices also favour the establishment of new medical colleges. A ministry official said Pakistani students travel to other countries to study medicine where the quality of education is poorer than in Pakistan.

Around 17,000 medical students graduate in Pakistan, the official said. Women make up 60pc of admissions to medical colleges, but most female graduates do not practice and a large number of doctors go abroad every year, he added.

“As a result, around 6,000 doctors enter the system, due to which the net deficit has been increasing continuously. We want quality education should be established, and they should bring in faculty members from abroad. Moreover, substandard medical colleges should be closed, and their students should be adjusted in quality medical colleges,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2017