THIS is with reference to the letter ‘NLE issues’ (June 17). The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has made the National Licensing Examination (NLE) mandatory for both local and foreign medical graduates to attain license before initiating medical practice in Pakistan.

Making Pakistani graduates sit this exam is a slap on our medical education system and suggests that the PMC does not believe in its graduates, the quality of education and the transparency of its medical institutions.

The PMC should review its decision. Doctors are the backbone of Pakistan’s weak healthcare system and have made tremendous sacrifices, especially during the ongoing pandemic. If the PMC implements such laws for graduates who have worked hard to pass their challenging papers, it will incite anger among them, compelling them to move against the PMC. The government must play its role in this regard.

Touqeer Ahmad

Okara

• Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2021*