RAWALPINDI, July 1: The Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) administration has refused to provide teaching experience certificates to its 72 assistant professors and senior registrars, sources said here on Monday.

These 72 people had been working as medical officers at the autonomous hospitals, but were later re-designated as teaching faculty by the former chief executive of the RMC and allied hospitals, Maj-Gen (Rtd) Islam Naqvi, as they fulfilled the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s requirements.

All of them were re-designated as teaching staff, but continued to get perks and privileges entitled for a medical officer. The only attraction for these persons at the time of being re-designated was to gain experience to compete for higher positions.

These people have now been working as assistant professors and senior registrars at the RMC and allied hospitals for the past three years. Meanwhile, it has been learnt that some of their colleagues have already been issued experience certificates.

The doctors recalled that all these people were indicated as members of the teaching faculty in a list submitted to the PMDC regarding the faculty strength. They said the situation was adversely affecting the working of the three teaching hospitals of the city as they were occupying both teaching posts and positions of medical officers.

“Once the situation is clarified, the government will have to induct more doctors and improve the doctor to patient ratio at these hospitals” a doctor said.

The situation has created resentment among these doctors, some of whom even plan to go to court against the injustice. “We had been made to work as teaching staff for the past three years, without being provided additional benefit, and the lone appeal of acquiring experience after doing all the hard work was being denied to us, which was simply unjust,” another doctor said.

Some fear that if a major chunk of senior professors resign following the implementation of the ban on private practice and if these 72 people are not regularized, the affiliation of the RMC with the PMDC could be threatened. This would therefore result in the shortage of teaching faculty.