KARACHI, Jan 23: The Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions (PAMI) has urged the government to grant it representation on the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

It has also requested that the matter be considered on a priority basis and the grant of representation be ensured before Jan 26 when the council is going to elect its president.

The PAMI has pointed out that both the federal and Sindh governments have already advised the PMDC to put off the election till the matter of private sector institutions' representation is decided by the federal authorities.

The association, which claims that the council wants to control the undergraduate and postgraduate medical education system, says that such a control would be harmful to the standard of modern medical education.

The PAMI has been seeking reforms in the medical education that includes introduction of a national licensing examination and a revision of the present obsolete curricula of teaching and practice of medicine.

It has alleges that the PMDC, dominated by public sector institutions, refuses to bring about any change in the medical education system, introduce a national licensing examination, and enforce a code of ethics in practising medicine just to protect public sector institutions many of which, according to the PAMI, were producing imperfect doctors.

The association believes that government medical colleges could meet the same fate as that of government schools if reforms were not introduced.