LAHORE, Nov 14: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has received from his inspector a “satisfactory” report on the conduct of an examination under the University of Health Sciences, which does not exist at all.
Information gleaned by this reporter on Friday revealed that the PMDC had appointed Prof Dr Zubair Ahmad Zaidi of the Dow Medical College, Karachi, to adjudge the standard of examination of pathology in MBBS second professional examination at the Allama Iqbal Medical College, on Sept 28.
Prof Zaidi came to Lahore and stayed at a five-star hotel, where he learnt that there was no pathology paper in second professional examination.
It is interesting to note that neither the AIMC nor the Punjab University-affiliated King Edward Medical College and Fatima Jinnah Medical College conduct pathology examination in the second professional examination.
When contacted, PMDC secretary Dr Sohail Karim Hashmi claimed that Prof Zaidi had submitted his inspection report, which says “the conduct of examination was satisfactory.”
When pointed out by this reporter that there was no pathology paper (in the second professional) for which the inspector was sent to Lahore, Dr Hashmi said, “it is impossible.”
“The examination has been conducted and Prof Zaidi inspected it,” he said, insisting that the AIMC must have conducted the examination.
Prof Zaidi, however, admitted that he learnt only after reaching Lahore that there was no pathology examination in the second professional examination. “But I stayed there and inspected the MBBS third professional pathology examination on Sept 28 (Sunday) and submitted a report on the satisfactory conduct of this examination,” he said.
He claimed that he had also written to the council that there was no pathology paper in the foregoing examination for which he was appointed, but added that he had yet to get any response from the council in this regard.
According to AIMC pathology department head Prof Shahbaz Aman, the department was surprised to see Prof Zaidi here to inspect the pathology paper on the instructions of the PMDC.
Being a senior colleague from Karachi, Prof Aman said, she had allowed Prof Zaidi to see the conduct of third professional oral and practical pathology examination on Sept 28. These examinations were conducted at the college from Sept 24 to Sept 28. But she said Dr Zaidi was asked to simply report that no second professional pathology examination was held at the AIMC on the notified date.
Prof Aman said it was obvious that he could not submit report on the third professional examination, as he was not appointed for that inspection.
When contacted, UHS controller of examination Dr Aftab Mohsin said the university had not requested the PMDC to inspect the said examination because it did not conduct any such examination at the AIMC. The university, he said, only communicated its date-sheet to the PMDC and it was mandatory for the council to inspect its examinations.
Dr Mohsin also said the UHS did not receive the copy of Prof Zaidi’s appointment to inspect the said examination, as was the routine in other cases. “No inspector can inspect any examination for which he is not appointed,” Dr Mohsin concluded.