Govt to present draft bill on PMDC in parliament: Dr Zafar Mirza

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, on Wednesday announced that the federal government will introduce a draft bill on Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) in the parliament, ARY News reported.

Dr Zafar Mirza said that it is the need of time to enforce ‘Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC)’ as an ordinance in the country.

The special assistant said that the federal government has terminated the services of PMDC employees after the payment of advance salaries of six months. The terminations were made in light of the PMC ordinance, he added.

“Private medical colleges are allowed to set tuition fees by its respective administration all over the world. The present government is closely monitoring private medical colleges across Pakistan.”

Read: National Medicine Policy to be announced next month: Zafar Mirza

Dr Zafar Mirza highlighted that the federal authorities are working efficiently to reduce difficulties of the its employees. He admitted that the people are facing troubles which are not static until the completion of the institutional reformations underway in the country.

It is pertinent to mention here that the government had dissolved Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) with its offices temporarily shut down on October 20 to ensure protection of the essential records and assets of the council.

The ordinance is believed to usher a new era of regulation and control of the medical profession by the establishment of uniform standards of medical education and training as well as recognition of qualifications in medicine and dentistry.

Read: Pakistan Medical and Dental Council dissolved, offices shut down

The offices will remain shut for one week. The Pakistan Medical Commission will be a body consisting of the Medical and Dental Council, the National Medical and Dental Academic Board, and the National Medical Authority, which will act as a secretariat of the commission.

The Government of Pakistan acted immediately to protect hugely important records relating to licencing and registration of all medical and dental practitioners in Pakistan as well as the records of medical and dental educational institutions in view of the approval of the new Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance.

The new commission is expected to start operations within a week. In order to ensure that no inconvenience is caused to ongoing medical and dental admissions, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination will be taking necessary steps for supervision and overseeing of the admission process to ensure it is properly completed.