THIS is with reference to the report “Elevating medical education standards vital for citizens’ health: Dar” (June 23) which covered the proceeding of the second meeting of the committee on ‘Medical Education’, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. As someone professionally associated with the field of medicine, I think the time for useless committees, their meaningless meetings and the hollow sermons that mark such meetings is long gone. What we need is a quick acknowledgement of the ground realities and swift action to address the issues.

The issue of medical education cannot be taken in isolation. It is an integral part of the larger healthcare delivery system. Ironically, when we talk about the system, we forget to mention that for the last at least 15 years we do not have a comprehensive health policy at federal or provincial levels.

As for the field of medical education, it has acquired the status of a full-blown industry. The process of admission to public-sector institutions starts with a qualifying exam, the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT), which has become a complete farce. This brings into play the private medical institutions with their lust for getting as many students as they can possibly enrol, charging each student up to Rs2 million per annum in addition to hefty donations for which receipts are not always issued.

Most of these institutions do not have a proper faculty as per the relevant rules. For example, there has to be at least one full-time professor of Anatomy and some junior faculty.

There are 178 medical colleges in the country, but there are not as many professors of Anatomy across the land. The situation is not too different in other Basic Science departments. Furthermore, every medical college should have an attached minimum 500-bed hospital for teaching and training, but this requirement is bypassed by acquiring a private or semi-government hospital on rent for a few hours every day. This is how clinical training is being imparted, or, frankly speaking, not imparted at such institutions.

Now, who is at fault? The answer is actually simple and obvious; the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), which is the profession’s regulatory body. Since 1962 when it came into existence, the PMDC has been struggling to work as an independent, transparent and democratic body, which it was supposed to be. The decline in standards over the last about couple of decades has been nothing short of spectacular. Frighten- ingly, the decline has been gaining momentum with every passing day.

The fraternity of medical professionals has always raised its voice in favour of making the PMDC an autonomous, independent, transparent and democratic body having elected members from all the provinces. This is precisely what has not happened in the last 20 years. Will the deputy prime minister and foreign minister and the committee on ‘Medical Education’ at least acknowledge this simple and obvious fact before they discuss how to elevate medical education standards?

Dr Mirza Ali Azhar
Former secretary-general,\ Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2024