THE Central Brooks Memorial Church hall is empty during the Sunday mass amid the lockdown across Sindh.—Shakil Adil / White Star
THE Central Brooks Memorial Church hall is empty during the Sunday mass amid the lockdown across Sindh.—Shakil Adil / White Star

KARACHI: Expressing serious concerns over the federal government’s reluctance to restore the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) despite court orders, health practitioners working in different capacities in the health sector said the situation has not only jeopardized the career of thousands of doctors in and outside Pakistan but also weakened efforts to fight coronavirus pandemic.

They demanded that the government immediately implement the verdict of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and open PMDC’s head office in the federal capital and all its regional offices so that doctors could renew their licences and fresh graduates could start their house jobs and become part of the workforce.

“It’s a very serious matter. Right now, around 15,000 fresh MBBS graduates across the country, who could have played a vital role in the fight against coronavirus, are sitting at home because they can’t start their house job for which they need to get registered with the PMDC,” said Jinnah Sindh Medical University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Tariq Rafi.

Health system may lose 15,000 house officers

Besides, he said that the health system would be losing services of another 15,000 doctors whose house job would end soon.

“To start practice as a doctor, these house officers need to get registered with the regulatory body. But, since PMDC is non-functional, they would be out of the health system,” Prof Rafi explained.

Health experts say bureaucracy misguiding prime minister on the issue

The country was already facing an acute shortage of doctors and not making use of available workforce would greatly weakened Pakistan’s fight against coronavirus, he added.

Other doctors shared similar concerns and said the prevailing situation had also put at risk professional careers of doctors whose registration with the PMDC needed renewal.

“Thousands of qualified postgraduates are waiting for their registration process. Thousands of Pakistani doctors working abroad are also distressed because they can’t get their registration and certificates renewed for continuation of their jobs. The respect Pakistani doctors are getting abroad is due to their registration with the PMDC only,” said Dr Qaiser Sajjad of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA).

Doctors, he said, were deeply concerned over the attitude of the government, which was not ready to unseal the PMDC building even after the March 30 strict orders of the IHC.

‘Bureaucracy only hurdle in PMDC restoration’

Referring to the court’s orders issued on a contempt of court application filed by PMDC employees, he said the bench had given an hour to the government to open the PMDC and warned of sending officials concerned behind bars.

“Even then, only the PMDC registrar was allowed to visit his office for less than an hour and no employee was allowed to enter the building. The registrar was then forced to leave his office,” he said, citing media reports.

“The situation is very unfortunate. The prime minister also holds the portfolio of the health minister and the PMA believes that bureaucracy is misguiding him. The bureaucracy is the only hurdle in the restoration of PMDC,” Dr Sajjad said.

The PMDC, along with the Council of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan and Pakistan Medical Research Council, came into being in 1962 through an act passed by the assembly.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2020

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