Karachi- The Medical and Dental Council constituted under the new Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance 2019 held its first meeting on October 28th at a hotel in Islamabad. The meeting was held is pursuant to section 4(2) of the PMC, wherein the Ordinance was formally presented followed by the election of Medical and Dental Council’s (MDC) President and Vice President; committees were formed and duties were delegated.
The council members unanimously elected Dr Arshad Taqi as President and Mr Ali Raza as Vice President of the Council unopposed. The meeting was attended by members of the newly formed MDC: Mr Muhammad Ali Raza, Mr Tariq Ahmad Khan, Dr Rumina Hasan, Dr Asif Loya, Dr Arshad Taqi, Dr Anees-ur-Rehman, Surgeon General of Pakistan Lt. General Dr Khawar Rehman, and President CPSP Prof. Dr Zafarullah Chaudhry. Ms Roshaneh Zafar attended the meeting via Skype.
After election, the President Dr Arshad Taqi took over the chair of the meeting. The trouble of the medical and dental fraternity was duly noted and in order to remove hold from the processing of new licences, renewals and other certificates the meeting proceeded to appoint temporary staff members. The temporary members are to take over during the transition period and not stay in office for over 90 days. Dr Nasser Mohiuddin, Director General (Tech.), NHSR&C, was appointed on temporary basis. Temporary staff for the Medical Authority was also appointed. It was announced that remuneration of each temporary member would be determined by the HR Committee and approved by the President.
Advertisement for appointment of secretary to the Council and members of the Medical Authority on merit will be published at the earliest and interviews and assessments will be carried out as per the system recommended by the HR Committee. It was also clarified that the 100 ex-employees of PMDC who fall in pay grade 1-4 will be given first preference and priority when positions for similar nature are advertised, as per the Section 49(3) of the Ordinance.
The Council unanimously decided that the Director Finance prepare the necessary approvals for payment of the 6 months basic pay and the 20 days salary for October 2019 of all ex-employees of PMDC to ensure that these payments are made as soon as possible.
As per the law the NLE was to be conducted for the first time in end of 2020 or start of 2021 after the graduation of MBBS and BDS in 2020. However, the council recorded the concern that given the required preparation and infrastructure required it may difficult to implement. The Academic Board was entrusted with the role of setting its standards and structure so the council could evaluate the time required to implement NLE based on the methodology adopted by the Board.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza, along with Secretary Dr Allah Baksh Malik, DG Tec Nasser Mohuddin, JS Mr Saeed Khan Nazi, Director Regulation Dr Sabeen Afzal, and Deputy Director PMDC Dr Farah Mazhar attended the meeting on special invitation.