PESHAWAR, May 9: The federal government has agreed in principle to establish a paramedical council on the pattern of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and the Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) to ensure standardization of paramedical colleges, institutions and education.

When established, the council will pave the way for paramedic staff’s higher education and improve their chances of getting promoted to next grades, official sources said.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held last month with federal health secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood in the chair.

The meeting was told that more than 100,000 paramedics working in the country had no service structure due to which they had no chances of promotion to next grades. Most paramedics were appointed in BPS-6 or 9 and got retired in the same grade after serving for as long as 30 years.

The meeting was informed that because of non-existence of a uniform curriculum at paramedical institutions in the country, even the qualified paramedics faced problems in finding jobs abroad.

“There is an urgent need of standardizing the curriculum for paramedical education across the country,” officials quoted the health secretary as telling the meeting.

Once the curriculum is standardized, the proposal for the establishment of paramedical council would be initiated. On being set up, the council will grant accreditation to paramedical institutions meeting the desired criteria, the secretary said.

Col (retd) Azra Qureshi, Principal, College of Medical Technology, Pims, Islamabad, disclosed that her college, in consultation with the curriculum wing of the Ministry of Education, had already developed a draft curriculum for paramedical education and further consultations were in progress.

The health secretary directed Dr Qureshi to coordinate and finalize the draft of the curriculum in consultation with provincial governments.

The All Pakistan Paramedical Staff Federation (APPSF) president Sirajuddin Burki was asked to coordinate and give inputs to Dr Qureshi so that the process of finalizing the curriculum could be expedited.

Officials said that a meeting of the National Commission for Career Structure of the Health Professionals had already asked the provincial governments to give suggestions regarding improvement in education and service structure of doctors, nurses and paramedics.

They recalled that former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had last year announced a service structure for all health professionals, including paramedics. However, they said, there was a need to establish a uniform education system for paramedics in the country.

After the development of a uniform syllabus for paramedics’ education, the paramedical council would be put in place and tasked to regulate their affairs, the officials added.