RAWALPINDI: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has allowed partial relaxation in the requirement of full-time PhD faculty members to launch MS/MPhil or equivalent and PhD programmes in clinical health sciences and basic medical sciences for the first time in the country.

There was no career growth for doctors and surgeons after Master of Surgery (MS) and Doctor of Medicines(MD) and Fellow of College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) as there was no programme for them for PhD in the country.

Rawalpindi Medical University took this case to HEC. The chairman HEC constituted a health sector committee comprising VCs of medical universities from all provinces, federal and private sector and a member from CPSP & PMDC chaired by Gen Imran Majeed. The committee deliberated on different proposal and finally agreed on recommendations to relax the present PhD policy for basic medical sciences and clinical sciences Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Umar welcomed the decision and said it will change the landscape of medical education and medical reseach in Pakistan.

“This will create both Research pathway for health professional after FCPS & MD/MS, FRCS, MRCP & American board as well as career pathway for medical teachers and researchers. There was no cadre of Researchers in country, now they got facility.”

He also said that our very orthodox polices were not upgraded to modern and global needs. The medical education challenges were not clearly identified and defined. “No concrete policies were made and no sustainable implementation plans were executed.”

Higher Eduction Commision did a commendable job in last couple of decades but medical academia was mainly focused on fellowship programmes while clinical medical research lagged behind because there was no pathways of medical research both in medical universities and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP).

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024