THE World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) has announced that by 2024 the licencing body of a country has to be registered and recognised by the WFME otherwise the medical and dental graduates of that country will be ineligible for going to the United States for training or taking the US Medical Licencing Examination (USMLE).

The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) must be under serious pressure to have itself recognised by the WFME before the deadline. However, not being recognised by the WFME for a few years may just be a silver lining for us. We will then be able to turn our focus on meeting the healthcare needs of our own country instead of focussing on exporting our graduates.

These graduates will be forced to stay and further train within the country and then eventually serve in the country. This will also lead to improvement in the post-graduate programmes already existing in the country.

On a recent trip to Skardu, I was appalled on being told that the entire region has only one hospital. This problem is complex. I have three suggestions which may be drops in the ocean, but may serve as small bridges.

It should be made mandatory for all Pakistani medical and dental graduates to serve at least three years after house job in the country before they go abroad. One year of service is mandatory in countries like Syria.

Also, all medical and dental colleges must be asked to establish or adopt a district headquarter (DHQ) or tehsil headquarter (THQ) hospital. This will ease the burden on the government to some extent and will ensure proper operations of these healthcare centres because in a lot of places even though the structures exist, either there is no staff, or they simply remain absent from duty.

Also, to ease the government’s burden, facilitation should be provided for private medical and dental colleges to open in remote areas. These will not only serve to educate the students of the region, but those colleges will also build and provide healthcare facilities to the region, making it a win-win situation.

As regards the National Licencing Examination (NLE), this is an excellent measure implemented by the PMC. This will not only serve to ensure the minimum standard of medical and dental graduates, but the data can be used for gathering information about medical and dental colleges. The colleges whose graduates consistently fare poorly on the NLE can be easily identified and the PMC can then take corrective action.

Meanwhile, I urge the PMC to have more dialogue with the relevant stakeholders at all levels for the sake of improving the healthcare mechanism in the country.

Dr Fadieleh A. Sohail
Karachi

VOTERS AND ELECTIONS: We, the taxpayers and voters, gave a five-year mandate to the ruling party in 2018 and that must be honoured by one and all. The huge amount of money involved in holding the general elections cannot be allowed to be squandered; spending that much money once every five years is good enough. Those looking for a change, should take the parliamentary route and have an in-house change, but we, the taxpayers, should not be deprived of our money by holding elections again. The relevant authorities as well as the higher judiciary should protect the taxpayers in this regard.

Prof Mahboob Mohammad
Karachi

BANK STAFF: I recently had a disturbing encounter with the staff at the Haroon House branch of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in Karachi. Even though I duly lodged a complaint (No: 9003293) against staff misbehaviour, nothing has happened beyond that and the problem is persisting. The relevant authorities should take notice of such matters as a few individuals are good enough to ruin the reputation of an institution.

Muhammad Saleem
Karachi

LEGITIMATE DEMAND: A sub-campus of Turbat University was opened in Panjgur a couple of years ago, which now has more than 500 students enrolled. In view of the rising number of admissions, it is beyond doubt that the area needs a full-fledged university of its own as a sub-campus with limited facilities is not able to serve the purpose. The authorities concerned should pay heed to the suggestion.

Yasmin Sana
Quetta

TOBACCO MAFIA: As a law-abiding, taxpaying citizen, I feel it is time we started talking about the harmful implications of the cigarette trade in Pakistan. I am sure that if a crackdown is launched against the various tobacco mafias across the country, they will have no choice but to close their operations. We need to create the world we want to live in.

Ammar Muzaffar
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2021