Joint parliament sitting to decide fate of PMDC bill

Islamabad

A joint sitting of parliament will decide the fate of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (Amendment) Bill 2015 pending approval by the Senate for more than three months.

The bill’s approval has been in slow lane since it was tabled in the Senate following approval by the National Assembly in March this year.

Since the lapse of the last year’s presidential ordinance, whose promulgation led to the election of the current executive committee after the dissolution of its predecessor, in last April, a controversy surrounds over the rightful management of the PMDC, regulator for medical and dental education and practice in the country.

PMDC President Professor Shabbir Lehri insists the incumbent executive committee is the organisation’s rightful and lawful management, so it will stay put.

However, his predecessor, Professor Masood Hameed, differs, asserting the lapse of the August 2015 presidential ordinance has automatically brought back the last executive committee.  In the latest development, the National Assembly Secretariat Legislative Branch has decided to table the bill in a joint session of parliament for voting.

An official in the know insisted the decision had been made as the Senate had neither examined the bill nor rejected it.  The plan hasn’t sat well with some senators, who emphasised the bill be referred to the Council of Common Interest for decision, while some felt the Senate is the right forum to decide its fate.