PMDC REGULATIONS: NEED TO MAKE CONSENSUS!

Abstract

Decisions of the dissolved Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) Executive Committee had provoked a sense of insecurity and apprehension among doctors in Pakistan. General practitioners were worried to complete certain number of CME/Training hours, especially the doctors of the remote areas who would have to travel long distances and to spend a lot of time and money. They would also have to leave their patients unattended during the CME activities. Medical students were under the onus of taking another (Exit) examination following the completion of MBBS course and the house job to get complete registration, wondering that either they graduated from some foreign medical school or the PMDC has self-acquired the role of an examining body. This was an open mistrust on our medical colleges, medical universities, and the whole medical education system. These decisions are reverted by the new Management Committee of PMDC. Another controversial decision which yet needs to be corrected is allowing clinical postgraduate degree holders to teach basic science subjects. This decision is liable to ‘officially’ promote quackery in medical education. Under the prevailing situation and the controversies arising, there is possibly no need of a Central PMDC as the health has now become a provincial subject.

Pak J Physiol 2015;11(3):1–2