ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Thursday directed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to issue provisional certificates of registered medical practitioners (RMP) to students of Abbottabad International Medical College (AIMC).

The council believes this would open a Pandora’s Box, as students were admitted without being registered with the council and once a precedent is set others would also seek relief, as there are other medical colleges that have done the same thing.

However, the PMDC registrar said the council respects the parliamentary committee and assured that the matter will be discussed at the council’s meeting.

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) was held on Thursday, chaired by Muttahida Qaumi Movement Senator Khushbakht Shujat and attended by other senators, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, National Institute of Health (NIH) Executive Director Aamer Ikram and NHS ministry representatives.

Representatives of 65 graduates of the AIMC were also present, hoping they could obtain provisional certificates of RMP so they could begin their house jobs.

Taking up the non-issuance of provisional certificates of RMP to AIMC students by the council, the committee was briefed by PPP Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi on the PMDC president’s behaviour and his refusal to entertain the senator’s request to issue the certificates to AIMC students.

The committee took notice of the PMDC president’s attitude, and said a privilege motion must be moved against him. They said the PMDC should not play with the lives of students who recently graduated from the AIMC.

However, the senators also recognised that the council had directed the AIMC to halt admissions, and said it was negligence on the part of the college administration that it did not pay heed. The committee felt that students could not be held responsible for this, and unanimously decided that the PMDC should issue certificates to them immediately.

PMDC Registrar retired Brig Dr Hafizuddin Ahmed Siddiqui assured the committee that the council meeting would discuss the matter, as he was not able to make a decision on this issue himself. He said there are other colleges facing the same issue, and once a precedent is set they will demand similar relief.

Dr Siddiqui told Dawn that the college was registered more than a decade ago but by 2014, it had failed to maintain standards for faculty, equipment and patients.

It was also revealed that the teaching hospital was 46 kilometres away from the college even though, according to the rules, the teaching hospital should be within 26km of the college.

“In 2014, the PMDC stopped the college from further admissions as junior doctors were appointed teachers but the college obtained a stay order from the Peshawar High Court and continued admitting 100 students each year. However, the PMDC did not register those students so they are not even enrolled or mentioned in the council’s documents,” he said.

Earlier, the meeting commenced with a briefing from the Ministry of NHS and the NIH executive director regarding the shortage of the anti-rabies vaccine in Punjab.

The committee was informed that in the current financial year, the institute has produced more than 225,000 doses of the anti-rabies vaccine that were supplied to the four provinces.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020