REFORMS in any field are not bad, but reforms without resources might turn out worst. Recently, on the orders of President Arif Alvi, Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has replaced Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

There is news now that according to the new commission every student after MBBS has to pass national licence examinations (NLE) in order to secure a house job. Another worrisome news is that this NLE will be having three steps and one needs to pay fees at all the steps which is about Rs100,000.

What will be the consequence of this illogical decision by the government? In public sector medical colleges/universities, which offer admission to only the brightest of the students, a huge number of students are from a low socioeconomic background.

These students work so hard to get into a medical college on merit to bear the least amount of fees. With this added financial burden in the shape of NLE fees, intelligent students might not be able to secure house job.

Even if someone can afford this examination fees, why will not he/she sit any other board examinations such as USMLE, PLAB, etc., which have validation almost all over the world.

Like medical college admission test coaching centres, now we will see NLE preparation centres, which will again make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer.

Board examinations are not a bad idea. It is being practised in many countries, but those countries have made their structure better first.

They have better education facilities and less working hours. They ensure doctors’ security and pay a handsome salary to a doctor even during his residency, which is training period like house job.

Still, if having a board for accountability is so necessary, there should only be one board examination taken in the final professional instead of the university’s own examinations that should have no additional fees.

If this situation persists, there will not only be a brain drain in the country. The country will have more scarcity of doctors, because young doctors will migrate to other countries who offer better facilities and later younger generations will rarely choose medicine because of increasing hardships in medicine studies.

Medicine is a tough course in the United States. Therefore even in the US people hardly choose medicine as career unless they are extremely passionate about it. But they are overcoming doctors’ shortage by offering immigration to the doctors from the subcontinent.

Such regressive policies in our country will create a serious doctors’ shortage which we will not be able to overcome.

Shaheera Iqbal
Karachi

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THIS is apropos your editorial ‘No more PMDC’ (Oct 22). It is worth noting that the timings of the presidential ordinance regarding the dissolution of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and setting up a new organisation — Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) — comprising the PMDC, National Medical and Dental Academic Board, and National Medical Authority, is most unsuitable.

I say so because the new admission process is about to begin as per criteria by the defunct PMDC.

The new admission policy had regulated the admission process of private medical colleges by laying down the minimum FSc marks and a centralised test.

The measure has been denounced by private medical college owners as they want a free for all in the admission process to rake up donation fees through manipulation.

The capping of the fee was another area where the PMDC had started asserting itself in line with the Supreme Court directions.

Another rumour doing rounds is the introduction of national licence examinations (NLE) of all medical and dental graduates after the completion of medical studies. The examinations were earlier meant only for foreign graduates from unrecognised medical colleges.

The examinations for our own graduates is simply incomprehensible as no other country resorts to such a measure. For own graduates the final professional examinations should be equated with the licensing examinations of medical practice.

There is a need to remove these anomalies to protect whatever good was done by the defunct PMDC supported by higher judiciary.

Raashid Wali Janjua
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2019