ISLAMABAD: According to a recent notification, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) had constituted an 18-member National Medical and Dental Academic Board (NMDAB). The board would look into the standard of education being followed by the undergraduate/post-graduate medical and dental institutions across the country. The notification was signed by NHS secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik, members of the board include the chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and vice president of College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan.
It is pertinent to mention here that President Dr Arif Alvi had earlier promulgated an ordinance dissolving the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and establishing the PMC.
The notification stated that four members of the board from public sector medical universities were required to be nominated by the provinces. Punjab has nominated Vice Chancellor of Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Prof Dr Aamer Zaman Khan as the member representing the province, while nominations from other provinces were still awaited.
Two dentists, Dr Saqib Riaz Qazi and Prof Dr Syed Muhammad Kefi Iqbal, had also been included in the board as its members.
Similarly, the provinces had to nominate one each member from private medical universities or colleges. So far Punjab had nominated Principal of Shalimar Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Dr Zahid Bashir. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had nominated Dean of Northwest School of Medicine Prof Dr Muhammad Tariq as the member of the board. Principal of the Army Medical College would also be a member of the board.
Dr Amir Bilal of Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Dr Saeed Sadiq Hamid of Aga Khan University, Karachi, and Dr Arif Tajammul of Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, had been nominated members of the board from public or private medical colleges.
Prof Dr Tahir Aziz Ahmed of Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, and Dr Khalid Mehmood of King Edward Medical University, Lahore, had also been nominated as members of the board.