ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (Pima) has criticised the government policy for postgraduate medical training to the Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) part-I students.

Pima Punjab President Dr Shabbir Ahmed and General Secretary Dr Iftikhar Burney said that due to lack of facilities and opportunities for postgraduate medical training, thousands of doctors were in a state of uncertainty about their future after doing FCPS Part-I.

“If the government does not timely address their problems, a large number of them may seize opportunities abroad and this can lead to deprivation of the nation from the services of skilled and talented doctors,” Dr Ahmed said.

He said that it was the responsibility of the government to provide training opportunities to FCPS students. He urged the government to pay immediate attention to resolving the issues of postgraduate medical training.

Dr Burney, while talking to Dawn, said FCPS was done in two parts. In part-I, an MBBS degree holder just have to clear a written exam.

“In part-II, candidates can join in different specialities and it takes four to five years to complete FCPS. In the past, there was no condition for the candidates for joining the part-II but now seats are limited in every speciality due to which over 50pc of the candidates fail to get admission in part-II. Moreover, after two years, if they fail to get admission in part-II, they are told to clear part-I again.”

He said that the problem was due to limited number of teaching hospitals. He suggested that the government should convert district headquarters hospitals into teaching hospitals so that FCPS candidates would not face problems.

When told that health departments face financial issues and how they will be able to pay FCPS candidates, Dr Burney suggested that the government should introduce a criterion under which some of the seats should be paid one and the remaining honorary, so that FCPS candidates would start unpaid training rather than wasting their time while waiting for a seat.

“The government should hold a competition every year for the paid seats and remaining candidates should be suggested to work without honorarium. Patients will also benefit from it,” he said.

“The government should also immediately increase the resources allocated for teaching hospitals and enhance their capacity,” Dr Burney said.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2021