Doctors’ associations lash out at PMDC

MN Report

FAISALABAD - Representatives of different associations of doctors and medical teachers have accused Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) of protecting business interests of a group of private medical colleges.

Moreover, the PMDC had compromised quality of medical education by allowing employment to specialists of clinical sciences as faculty in basic medical sciences, they alleged.

These views were expressed at a news conference addressed by office-bearers of Pakistan Medical Association, Young Doctors’ Association, Social Security Doctors’ Association, Forum of Family Physicians Association, Medical Teachers’ Association, Private Hospitals Association and the Pakistan Society of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Association.

Representatives of these organizations who spoke on the occasion included Khurram Raja, Muhammad Taufail, Abdus Sattar Qureshi, Muhammad Irfan, Altaf Parvaiz, Rae Muhammad Arif and Muhammad Anjum.

Criticizing the PMDC for patronizing a particular group of private medical colleges, they said these private colleges have jeopardized quality of health education in the country as they are producing incompetent doctors despite charging exorbitant fees from their students.

There were only 18 medical institutions in the country in 2008, but their number in last five years has jumped to 150, they said and added: “There is no merit, no rules and regulations and no training for the doctors produced by these private medical institutions which are only minting money”.

They alleged that the PMDC had been “hijacked” by people like Dr Asim Hussain, the president of Private Medical Universities Association and now a vice president of the PMDC. “Dr Hussain and some other members of the PMDC are only promoting their business interests,” they alleged.

They were of the opinion that the PMDC should not have changed the name of forensic medicine to forensic pathology, saying “this points to lack of professional knowledge and understanding of these subjects by decision-makers”.

“Renaming a subject to another is not a prerogative of PMDC as both the subjects must be studied separately,” they opined.

They warned that if the government failed to take notice of the situation prevailing in certain private medical colleges, or else lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the country would be affected.

They also demanded that the `private mafia’ should be stopped from playing with the lives of thousands of people.