ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) on Thursday announced that it would give discount to the medical students in the registration fee for the National Licensing Examination (NLE).

The members of the Medical and Dental Council headed by its President Dr Arshad Taqi held a meeting with a delegation of medical students to discuss the NLE.

At the request of the council, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Dr Faisal Sultan attended the discussion.

The students at the outset agreed in principle with the concept of NLE and acknowledged the need for such an examination to improve the quality of healthcare services as part of the upcoming global requirements.

However, the primary issue of the students with the NLE was that it was being made mandatory for them.

The council clarified that it did not have the power or authority to exempt anyone from the NLE as it is mandated by the law that any person who graduated after September 2020 would need to qualify the NLE to obtain a full licence and this had been recently confirmed by the recent judgement of the Lahore High Court.

Another concern raised by some of the students was that if they did not qualify the NLE on the first attempt it would waste at least six months of their time and add to the cost for retaking the exam.

After the discussion with the students, the council in a meeting decided to take certain measures to provide relief in registration fee for NLE to medical graduates.

The council decided to give 100pc subsidy to the first batch of the graduates making first attempt for NLE by end of this month.

The graduates who could not qualify the NLE in August 2021 session will be permitted to retake their NLE by paying 25pc registration fee which stands at Rs3,000.

Pakistani medical and dental graduates who will register for the NLE scheduled to be held in December 2021 session will also be given a 100pc discount. Similarly, for the first retake, if required, they will only be charged Rs3,000.

Pakistani medical and dental graduates who will register for the NLE scheduled to be held in March 2022 will be given a discount of 75pc in fee and charged a subsidised fee of Rs3,000 (25pc). In addition, for the first retake, if required, they will only be charged Rs3,000.

Graduates registering for the NLE for the June 2022 session shall be given a 50pc discount and charged a fee of Rs6,000 and the same fee will be charged for the first retake, if required.

Pakistani medical and dental graduates can take the exam at any time during their house job or after its completion. Failing to qualify an attempted NLE exam will not affect the validity of their provisional licence which will continue for the period it is issued to allow the completion of their house job.

The NLE will be held four times a year; June, September, December and March to ensure students can attempt a retake within three months.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021