ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The government on Saturday constituted a nine-member committee comprising senior medical professionals from the four provinces to review current status of medical education in the country and suggest measures to raise its standard.

An official announcement said the committee has been asked to come out with a set of recommendations within four weeks after going through the existing medical curriculum and identifying causes of the reported deterioration in its standard.

The committee will also review medical qualifications and medical institutions presently notified in the schedules under the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) Ordinance.

Similarly it will also review undergraduate and postgraduate medical education curriculum, inspection/accreditation of courses and institutions, including postgraduate degree/diploma awarding bodies, and faculty development. The committee has been constituted following a high level meeting which was presided over by Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan. The meeting was convened in the backdrop of persistent complaints by different quarters of inattention by PM&DC to issues like revision of decades-old medical curriculum to meet the demand of the present times.

The members of the committee are Prof Syed M Awais of the King Edward Medical College Lahore, Prof Rashid Jooma of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi, Prof Rafiq Memon, Principal Liaquat University of Medical Sciences Hyderabad, Prof A.J. Khan, President Ayub Medical College Abbottabad, Dr Donia Aziz member National Assembly, Dr Abdul Majid Rajput, Director General Health and Prof Haji Manzoor, Additional Secretary Government of Balochistan, president Pakistan Medical Association and a representative of the Surgeon General Pakistan Army.— Staff Reporter