CME: Now you need it, now you don’t, Temporary Relief by PM&DC

By Our Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD - In order to provide temporary relief to the doctors whose registrations were pending because of CME hours, the management committee of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has temporarily suspended the precondition of completing continuous medical education (CME) hours for renewal of pending registration of doctors and waived the condition of submitting affidavit. In a press release issued by the PMDC on the other day stated that the decision was taken considering the difficulties doctors were facing in completing CME hours. Almost 1,500 cases of doctors who were unable to complete their CME hours were pending registration with the council. Terming the procedure “unnecessary red-tapism”, the PMDC management committee hoped that the new move would help alleviate the undue anxiety that was generated in the medical profession, the release said. PMDC Management Committee Chairperson Maj Gen (retd) Dr Azhar Mehmood Kayani said that pending cases would now be facilitated by the concerned sections of the PMDC, the press statement quotes. Dr Kayani said that new and easier procedures for meeting these requirements for renewal of registration and completion of CME hours would be announced soon. The criterion was implemented in 2014, and general practitioners were required to submit 30 CME hours, while specialists are required to complete 75 CME hours every year.