ISLAMABAD: Two bills seeking amendments to the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) Acts were introduced in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Moved by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) legislator Uzma Riaz, the bills were referred to the standing committees as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan did not raise any objection.

Ms Riaz while sharing the details of the PMC (Amendment) Bill 2021 with the lawmakers said there were different criteria for admission to public and private sector medical colleges. She suggested that private medical and dental colleges should also adopt the criterion followed by the public sector colleges.

The PMC holds the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) for admissions in public and private medical and dental colleges. Public sector colleges use the MDCAT result for admissions. However, private colleges have been allowed to hold another test and interview for admissions. Because of this facility, private colleges have allocated 20 marks for interviews. On the other hand, a number of parents complained that while there was a tough competition among candidates and a number of students failed to get admission with a difference of 0.4 per cent marks, the marks for interview were used for admitting “favourite” students.

Ms Riaz said private colleges should also use the method of the public sector colleges so that there would be no difference in quality of education in both the sectors.

While moving the Drap (Amendment) Bill 2021, she said there should be a research wing in Drap. She said a number of medicines were imported from different countries but there was no department to check the quality of the imported medicines. She said there should also be a research wing so that Pakistan could manufacture medicines.

“Unfortunately, there is no department to see what are the impacts and side effects of imported medicines,” Ms Riaz said.

The minister for parliamentary affairs agreed with both the bills after which MNA Amjad Ali Khan, who was chairing the session, referred the two bills to the standing committees for further discussion.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2021