PMDC refuses to recognise MPhil, PhD degrees obtained by doctors from general universities

The newly established Pakistan Medical and Dental Council has refused to recognise the credentials of post-graduate MPhil and PhD scholars in basic sciences from general universities, ignoring the decision of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) regarding MPhil and PhD, which has threatened the future of hundreds of doctors.

Medical universities across the country are already suffering from a severe shortage of PhD teachers in basic sciences and there are no PhDs except for a few fields, due to which doctors turn to general universities for doing PhDs.

Before the establishment of the new PMDC, the PMC had written letters to various universities and medical colleges to make it clear that MPhil and PhD were not clinical degrees and they were research-based degrees, so no training was required for them. Therefore, the right to recognise and conduct examinations for MPhil and PhD or equivalent qualifications was not the domain of the PMC, but of the HEC and universities.

After these letters, hundreds of medical scholars took admission to PhD and MPhil programmes in general universities and many of them also got their degrees, but suddenly the new PMDC has refused to recognise them.

Surprisingly, the PMDC took this decision without approval from its academic board, which includes the Higher Education Commission chairman and president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons as members.

PMDC spokesperson Hina Shaukat said that universities were no longer conducting MPhil, but the fate of those who had completed MPhil or PhD earlier would be decided by the council.

She said that universities which had not yet been registered should apply for registration as per the PMDC Act. The spokesperson added that to start the PhD programme of the PMDC, it was necessary to have three PhD teachers.

HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar said the PMDC did not have the right to not recognise the credentials of MPhil and PhDs, as this was the authority of the commission.

If the PMDC would not accept the credentials of our universities, we would not accept theirs either, he remarked. He added that he would talk to the PMDC president about the matter.