ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Wednesday repealed two controversial laws of the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) and Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) which had become a reason for a number of protests and litigations.

The bill to repeal MTI was moved by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) legislator Agha Rafiullah while the bill to revoke the PMC was moved by Mahreen Razaque Bhutto, also from the PPP.

National Health Services (NHS) Minister Abdul Qadir Patel thanked the parliamentarians for passing the bills, which repealed the MTI and PMC, claiming that the Pakistan Medical Commission was introduced after dissolving the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) while MTI bill had made the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) a private hospital.

The minister said because of the PMC, medical students were forced to appear in the National Licensing Exam (NLE) after graduating.

“Most of the seats of medical and dental colleges in Sindh remained vacant as students could not get the passing marks in the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Tests (MDCAT) which required more marks than exams held in the United States and Europe,” he added.

Mr Patel claimed that 18,000 students, after failing to get admission in Pakistan, got admission to medical and dental colleges abroad. This inflicted a loss of $9 billion to the country as these students paid fees in foreign exchange, he added.

In November 2020, President Dr Arif Alvi had promulgated MTI Ordinance under which Pims was to be run through the board of governors (BoG). Though employees protested against the ordinance, it sailed through the parliament. As a result of the bill, the BoG had been dealing with all issues of the hospital while private practice was going to be started due to which patients would have to pay for the treatment.

Earlier, there was the PMDC under the Act of 1962 and then 2012 but during the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) it was dissolved and around 200 employees were sacked. Later the PMC was established, which had decided that medical graduates would have to clear the NLE after graduation which triggered protests from students. On the other hand, foreign students also held a number of demonstrations as they believed that the PMC was a major hurdle in the way of starting clinical practice.

Pims employees hold protest

Despite the MTI bill being repealed, the Pims employees staged a protest, claiming that a new bill titled the National Medical Teaching Institution, proposed by the present government, would prove to be another MTI law.

Led by Grand Health Alliance Chairman Dr Asfandyar Khan, the employees not only closed the out-patient departments (OPDs) for two hours but also held a protest in front of the National Press Club.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2022