HYDERABAD: Office-bearers of the Pakistan Medical Association Sindh and Hyderabad chapters have demanded dissolution of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and cancellation of results of the tests conducted by the PMC.

They said 70 per cent candidates for the Sindh medical colleges had not been able to perform better in the tests because they were required to answer the questions prepared from the syllabus of the federal board of education.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the local press club here on Wednesday, PMA Sindh general secretary Dr Rafiq Khokhar, PMA Hyderabad chapter president Dr Agha Taj and treasurer Dr Nisar Memon said the PMC must be dissolved and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) should be restored immediately.

They said that after the 18th Amendment, education and health departments had been devolved to the provinces by the federal government. The PMC, which was formed by the present government after winding up the PMDC, had decided to hold the pre-entry test under a uniform policy and that was why for the first time, the pre-entry tests were conducted by the federal government under aegis of the commission.

They said the students who had not studied the federal board’s syllabus in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan did not get the required numbers in the pre-entry test while those who had studied federal syllabus naturally performed better.

The office-bearers said that 68pc to 70pc students of Sindh had been affected in terms of marking when compared with their Punjab counterparts. They said the students were neither provided even carbon copy of answer sheets nor keys of their answers.

They said that some students were told that their results would be revised, but it would not make much difference. They conceded that the PMA should have moved court of law prior to the tests in order to get a stay order.

They said that now unsuccessful students’ seats would be offered to those qualified for them regardless of their provincial domiciles under the uniform policy.

Questioning the PMC’s test, they said the exercise had undermined the future of thousands of students in Sindh and added that since it was a uniform policy, any student qualifying in the tests with required numbers would be able to get seat in any medical college in any province regardless of his/her district domicile.

Supporting the Sindh ministers’ arguments on the issue, they said the pre-entry tests should be conducted by respective medical colleges and universities.

Calling for cancellation of the tests, they said provincial colleges and universities should hold tests as had been practiced in the past. They said that it was not the federal government’s domain to hold pre-entry test.

Covid precautions

They also expressed concern over non-provision of safety tools to paramedics, doctors and nurses who were performing duties during the coronavirus situation in Sindh. They said that if they were not protected, the entire health system of Sindh would collapse. They said that those health workers could not be left alone.

They condemned the attack on Khairpur hospital medical superintendent Dr Kaleemullah Memon by some extortionists. The suspects had demanded extortion from him failing which he was attacked, they added.

They demanded deployment of Rangers in all hospitals to provide protection to doctors and paramedics. They threatened to launch a protest if the attackers were not arrested.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2020