ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) PresidentProf Dr Noshad Ahmad Shaikh on Saturday said the commission was focusing on developing standards for the medical and dental profession not only as per World Federation for Medical Education’s (WFME) standards but also international best practices to ensure Pakistani doctors were duly recognised internationally.

He was speaking at the first meeting of the WFME Accreditation Task Force held at the PMC. The meeting was also attended by Dr Khurshid Ahmad Nasim (PMC Vice President), special advisers Dr Raheela Yasmin, Dr Ali Tayyab and Dr Umar Ali Khan.

The president told the participants that since PMC had qualified eligibility for the WFME, the task force had been constituted aiming to sum up the work that had been done so far along with the proposed steps for the WFME accreditation.

He said the task force had to expedite the finalisation of accreditation application to be submitted to the WFME. As the deadline by Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) had been fixed as 2024 and the future of Pakistani graduates was at stake, the accreditation process should be undertaken at priority.

Says efforts underway to get WFME’s accreditation to facilitate Pakistani doctors abroad

According to a statement, a presentation regarding the current status of the accreditation and an overview of the WFME accreditation timeline was given by the task force to chalk out further implementation of the process.

The PMC president informed the committee that the council had decided that 2022 accreditation standards shall be a vision document. The current inspection criteria are the 2019 standards based on which the PMC may perform inspections.

It was proposed that a seminar should be conducted by the PMC and international speakers should be invited and consulted. This will lead to better communication and understanding of the policies under revision and implementation, ultimately aiding in the process of the accreditation.

Prof Shaikh added that the PMC Council was focusing to complete the mandatory requirements and develop the standards of medical and dental profession as per not only the WFME standards but also on international best practices.

It was agreed that the website shall be upgraded regarding PMC qualifying the eligibility of WFME so that students’ concerns were addressed.

The PMC president held another meeting with the Aga Khan University (AKU) Karachi that has been taken on board regarding the WFME accreditation task force.

He said doctors and graduates did not need to worry as PMC was making efforts to get the accreditation and soon will achieve the goal.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2022