Revamped PMDC meets amid protests from two provincial govts
By Baqir Sajjad Syed
ISLAMABAD, April 29: A controversially revamped Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) meets from Monday amid protests from two provincial governments which have decided to boycott the session.
The two-day session will be inaugurated by federal Health Minister Nasir Khan, something unprecedented for the council which is meeting for the 107th time. This issue has specifically raised concerns in the medical community about the independent and autonomous status of the PMDC, a statutory body and regulator of the medical profession in the country.
The council’s president, Dr Sibtul Hasnain, told Dawn that the PMDC was a subordinate department of the federal government.
The overhauled council has no representation from elite post-graduate medical institutions like the College of Physicians and Surgeons Karachi, Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical College Karachi, Sheikh Zayed Post-Graduate Medical Institute Lahore, National Institute of Child Health Karachi, National Institute of Cardio-vascular Diseases Karachi, Post-Graduate Medical Institute Lahore, and Post-Graduate Medical Institute Peshawar.
Although most of these institutions have been members of the PMDC since 1962 under section 3(1) (f) of the PMDC’s Ordinance but their status has been put in limbo so as to avoid dissent.
Sources say all post-graduate institutes were deprived of representation only to stop former PMDC president Prof (Dr) Abdullah Jan Jaffar, a CPSP representative, from attending the meeting.
Justifying the move, Dr Hasnain says legislation has to be done for the representation of post-graduate medical institutions on the council. "Since this (legislation) would take time it was decided that their representatives should be dropped."
Similarly, Peshawar University and Balochistan University, which have medical colleges affiliated to them, are no more in the council.
Membership of recognized medical colleges like Khyber Medical College Peshawar, Khyber College of Dentistry Peshawar, Ayub Medical College Abbottabad and Sindh Medical College Karachi has been revoked.
While such prominent names have been ousted by the council secretariat in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health from the 107th session, private institutions, including Kabir Medical College Peshawar, Sardar Begum Dental College Peshawar, Frontier Medical College Abbottabad, Islamic International Medical College Rawalpindi, Shifa Medical College Islamabad, Hamdard University Medical College Karachi, Ziauddin Medical University Karachi, Isra University Hyderabad, Fatima Jinnah Dental College Karachi and Baqai Medical University have been notified despite a clear Supreme Court verdict that private medical institutions under question should be inspected and the final status should be decided.
The apex court had stated in its judgment last December: "The Federal Government before according recognition in terms of Section 11 has to have a meaningful and purposive ‘consultation’ with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and the order to be passed in this regard has to be germane to the purposes and objects of the law".
Additionally, the Supreme Court had said: "The cases of these colleges/institutions having provisional recognition shall be taken up by the Council. The institutions are given six months’ time from the announcement of this judgment to make up the deficiencies and submit a detailed report to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and thereafter the Council having examined the reports and carrying out requisite inspections, if deemed necessary, shall submit its recommendations to the Federal Government which shall decide the matter by August 14, 2007."
Even the National Assembly's Health Committee had been told by the PMDC secretariat that a deadline of June 16, 2007 has been set for submission of rectification reports by provisionally-recognized colleges.
But, the PMDC secretariat and Health Ministry rushed to notify these private institutions.
Dr Hasnain now contends that all these private medical colleges had already been notified. But, fails to tell as to what all the controversy has been about for the last couple of years.
Investigations revealed that the authorities concerned while notifying these private institutions relied on a November 2005 notification of the health ministry that accorded recognition to these institutions on the basis of a PMDC recommendation for providing only provisional recognition.
This had led to litigation culminating in the Supreme Court verdict reproduced in the earlier paragraphs.
Moreover, the decision to notify provisionally-recognized private medical institutions runs in contrast to the PMDC and health ministry’s policy of not granting accreditation to several public sector institutions like the Dental Section of Army Medical College, Dental Section of Nishtar Medical College, Dental Section of Ayub Medical College, Dental Section of Bolan Medical College, Services Institute of Medical Sciences Lahore, Gomal Medical College Dera Ismail Khan and Saidu Medical College Swat.
Reacting to these developments, provincial governments of the NWFP and Balochistan have informed the PMDC that they would not only be boycotting the 107th session but would also not be obliged to abide by the decisions taken there.
A letter from the NWFP health secretary said the provincial government’s representative Yunus Javed would not attend the session until the Khyber Medical College, Khyber College of Dentistry, Post-Graduate Medical Institute Peshawar and Ayub Medical College were represented.
