ISLAMAABD: The prime minister must, with the consultation of all stakeholders, strengthen the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) as a democratic, autonomous, independent and transparent body so it can regulate medical education in the country.

This was mentioned in a letter written to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif by the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), urging him to take notice of challenges being faced by the health sector.

The PMA has asked the prime minister to spare some time to meet its delegation in order to discuss important issues regarding the health delivery system and medical education in the country.

PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad, talking to Dawn, said the medical fraternity wanted to discuss a number of issues including concerns raised by foreign graduates of medicine.

Pakistan Medical Association writes letter to Prime Minister Sharif

Meanwhile, a meeting was held on Friday between representatives of Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) and the PMC Academic Board’s Chairman Dr Adil Haider.

A detailed discussion was held in the meeting about three mandatory sections in the National Licensing Examination (NLE). Due to the subjective nature of marking in mandatory stations, students qualifying with an aggregate of higher than 70pc end up failing due to not qualifying a single mandatory station, the representatives pointed out.

The chairman highlighted that the mandatory stations represented essential basic skills like basic life support and trauma care, which is a competency every doctor is expected to have at the minimum.

The chairman informed FMG representatives that he will discuss with the board on an immediate basis in the coming week, their concerns. He said either mandatory stations should be based on an objective marking system or alternatively the requirement of passing all mandatory stations should be removed.

In addition to this, he confirmed that mandatory stations, if retained in the future, will consist of basic skills and will be in advance declared along with the relevant topics so that all students can specifically prepare for these skills.

He said according to observations of the board, students who had failed to qualify a mandatory station but obtained more than 70pc aggregate marks in all stations will be notified as qualified so that they are not placed at any disadvantage on account of subjective marking rather than objective marking.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022