Bill seeking end to charlatanism approved by Senate body

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) on Thursday approved a bill that suggests putting an end to charlatanism in the medical field on the condition that five points in it be amended.

The bill has been moved as allegations against a number of health practitioners have emerged with people saying that they falsely presented themselves as specialists besides prescribing unregistered medicines.

The title of the bill has also been changed. It will now be called ‘Allied and Health Professional Council Bill’.

The bill was moved on behalf of Zaheeruddn Babar Awan, adviser to the prime minister on parliamentary affairs, in the Senate on Jan 24, 2022.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that the aim of the bill was to establish a regulatory council for standardising the training and practice of professionals.

The Pakistan Allied Health Professionals and Paramedics Council will help in facilitating qualified and trained professionals to deliver quality health services. Through the bill, all qualified allied health professionals will be registered and their rights will be safeguarded.

The bill will also enable professionals from vast disciplines in the field of medicine to grow as they deserve to.

The committee unanimously agreed on the prerogative that the bill would explicitly legitimise the use of word ‘doctor’ to be designated according to a professional’s academic degree.

The bill defines Allied Health Professionals (AHP) as people who provide diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive, curative or rehabilitative services in healthcare and have undergone a prescribed course of training in a registered institution as an AHP.

The council will ensure that no AHP shall designate himself as a doctor for professional purposes besides ensuring that authorisation to use any medical devices will be explicitly defined and limited to the scope of work of the category or discipline.