KARACHI, March 15: The federal government favoured on Tuesday the private medical institutions’ plea for representation on the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.
Inasmuch as the PMDC has been mandated by the law to regulate the medical profession and professional education, it could not discharge its functions properly without private medical sector’s participation in its affairs, according to comments filed by Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui on behalf of the federal health ministry.
A petition has been moved by the Pakistan Association of Private Medical Institutions for representation of private sector on the PMDC. It says that private institutions were rendering vital services in the medical sector and any organization seeking to oversee medical profession must have its representation.
Opposing the petition on PMDC’s behalf, Advocate Chaudhry Jamil argued that the association had no legal status to approach the court under Article 199. It was registered as a society and it was none of its functions to move writ petitions. The private sector had already been given due representation provisionally, he said.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Maqbool Baqar, adjourned further hearing to March 30. Advocate Anwar Mansoor Khan is appearing for the petitioner association.
PLEA DISMISSED: A division bench of the Sindh High Court dismissed on Tuesday a writ petition moved by former divisional commissioner, Ziaul Islam, for his release on bail.
The petitioner is accused by the National Accountability Bureau of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. His wife, who has been granted bail, and two sons, who have been declared absconders, are also being tried by an accountability court as beneficiaries in whose name properties were allegedly acquired.
Representing the petitioner, Advocate Raja Qureshi submitted that while disposing of an earlier petition, a high court division bench had directed that if the prosecution failed to complete recording of its evidence by Dec 24, 2004, the accused would become entitled to be released on bail. The accused, the counsel said, should be admitted to bail in exercise of the court’s constitutional jurisdiction.