LAHORE: The Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) has demanded immediate withdrawal of the National Licensing Examination (NLE) introduced by the Pakistan Medical Commission and immediate redressal of grievances of pre-medical students regarding the NMDCAT.

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday, PIMA President Dr Khubaib Shahid urged the PMC to act as a regulatory body rather than an examining board and better regulate private medical colleges and teaching hospitals.Mr Shahid said it seemed the PMC had opened the gate of corporatisation of health care system of Pakistan, leaving people of Pakistan at the hands of private mafia.

“Apparently, the Pakistan Medical Commission lacks transparency, merit, accountability and regulatory functions as in the current structure of PMC, there are a few individuals empowered who are not democratically elected rather handpicked”, the PIMA president said.

“They don’t have the required eligibility, capacity, vision and planning for this position,” he said, adding that surprisingly even the non-doctors were members of this eight-member PMC executive board.

Worldover, he said, professionals from the same professions themselves regulated their respective regulatory bodies through democratic process.

Khubaib Shahid further said that the PMC had decided to conduct a single national online NMDCAT exam in different batches spreading over a whole month without proper preparation.

As a result, multiple gross issues were being reported, including power and internet failures, out of syllabus questions, delays in results, issues in scrolling forward or backward.

The PIMA president said this had produced credibility issues, raising questions on merit and transparency. Moreover, no transparency was ensured in rechecking the results.Under this law, the PIMA president said, the medical students would have to take the National Licensing Exams (NLE) after house job.

“The modern world is progressing towards minimal and effective evaluation system but the PMC was increasing low standard burden of exam in addition to an already extensive evaluation and examination system,” he said.Dr Khubaib said the PIMA had conducted two webinars on “Pakistan Medical Commission apprehension and expectations”, bringing all stakeholders together on a single platform for a dialogue and consultation.

PIMA Director Relief Dr Muhammad Afzal Mian, President PIMA Lahore (chapter) Dr Muhammad Hamayun and Dr Waqas Ahmad were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2021