THE plight of PhD-holders continues to aggravate. Neither the judiciary nor the recommendations of scholars can change the attitude of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) towards the registration of PhD degrees of medical doctors from Karachi University (KU).

The silence of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on this issue is incomprehensible. We got the highest degree in basic medical sciences of genetics, microbiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, and physiology and got it registered and attested by the Higher Education Commission.

Even after the Supreme Court decision to recognise KU, the PMDC insisted on making PhD registration conditional with the KU inspection, which is quite illogical in our case as we were enrolled in PhD programmes of KU, which were recognised and registered with the PMDC.

Years ago we completed our PhDs, but now the PMDC wants to visit our dissertations. We did our PhDs under the supervision of highly qualified faculty in well-equipped state-of-the-art laboratories. Not only the HEC but professors from highly esteemed universities of the US and the UK had also reviewed and certified our PhD theses. Do they doubt the quality, protocols and eligibility of PhDs?

We have voiced our concern at all platforms available to us, but to no avail except for the comment that “the issue is under consideration”.

Thus this delay has closed all doors of promotions etc on us until the registration of our degrees by the PMDC. What an irony that candidates with one- or two-year diploma or master’s degree are considered eligible for the post of professors, but those who have got PhD, with 15-16 years of teaching experience in medical universities, hold the post of assistant professors.

We now look forward to our Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Health Minister Aamer Mehmood Kiani and HEC Dr Tariq Banuri to look into the matter.

Dr Nuzhat Aisha Akram,

Dr Sadia Fatima, Dr Sanower Ali and others

Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2018