LAHORE
Senior medical faculty and heads of medical/health institutions of Punjab, postgraduate trainees have unanimously declared Central Induction Policy the most fair, transparent and merit-based centralised admissions system for specialisation, which will not only eliminate corrupt practices in PG inductions but also strengthen healthcare system in the province.
“The Central Induction Policy will ensure fair distribution of PG trainees in specialisation programmes, which will fulfill specialists’ requirements in neglected specialties as per requirement of the health system,” informed Punjab Minister and Secretary for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SHC&ME), which was unanimously supported by the senior faculty and heads of medical colleges/universities and teaching hospitals and PG trainees during a roundtable conference on “PG Central Induction Policy – Merit and Transparency” jointly organised by Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society (Jang Group of Newspapers) and Department of Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SHC&ME), Punjab, held here at a local hotel on Monday.
The Secretary SHC&ME Najam Ahmad Shah said the Central Induction Policy or Punjab Residency Programme would give equal opportunities to graduates of remote districts and ensure 100 percent paid slots for PG trainees from the date of their joining. “We have inducted 900 paid PG trainees with allocation of Rs800 million,” he added. Previously, he said, we were going nowhere in postgraduate training programme as, for instance, there were 600 PG trainees inducted on 400 available slots in Allama Iqbal Medical College/Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. “It was a modus operandi of an organised group within hospitals to get their candidates inducted in PG programmes over and above the available seats without pay and then after a few months start raising the issue of unpaid PGs, holding protests and strikes in hospitals to make the health system hostage to their whims,” he said, adding that this blackmailing must end through a merit-based, transparent online centralised admissions system. As per merit under Central Induction Policy, he said, the candidates from public sector would be given 10 marks, 20 marks for undergraduate qualification (MBBS/BDS) and 40 marks for MS/MD and FCPS exam. Terming Central Induction Policy a demand-driven policy, he said, it would discourage the candidates’ tendency of seeking induction in specialties of their choice as certain specialties like Gynae, Dermatology and Medicine were overcrowded while other specialties such as Surgery, Urology, Cardiac Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia, etc., remained wanting in specialists in the province. He said the refusal to leave slots in teaching hospitals of Lahore to work in remote districts was against the spirit of nationalism. “The culture of sifarish, choice of institution and choice of specialty has been eliminated,” he asserted.
He informed that Central Induction Policy had been framed after taking all stakeholders into confidence, including Young Doctors Association, saying that they had not submitted any objections to the policy; therefore, any protest against this policy was unfounded. However, he said that SHC&ME had again extended time for YDA to submit their objections to any point in the Central Induction Policy.
Punjab Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafique said the infrastructure, facilities and equipment would not work till they didn’t produce trained human resources to run those hospitals. “About 60 percent influx of patients in hospitals of Lahore is from remote districts; therefore, it is of paramount importance to improve services in district and tehsil hospitals through trained human resource and upgrade required equipment and infrastructure at these facilities,” he said and added the Punjab government was offering a substantial pay package of Rs250,000 in place of Rs80,000 for serving in periphery.
He said that, people usually point fingers at politicians and bureaucracy for violation of merit, but in this case, the government had itself introduced a foolproof, merit-based and transparent admission policy to eliminate the culture of favouritism and bribery.
Prof Dr Syed Muhammad Awais, Adviser on Medical Education SHC&ME, rejected the claim of obligating duty of 80 hours per week under the Central Induction Policy, saying that there was no such proposal under this policy as the mandatory timing was from 8am till 3pm and later working in their respective wards in evening/night as per their schedules. However, he said that the specialisation demanded dedication; therefore, it was sad that PG trainees were reluctant to perform duties beyond stipulated time.
He said there was no gender issue in serving in periphery as the female residents could easily perform duties for mandatory six months during last two years of their postgraduate training. In addition, he informed, the SHC&ME would take care of the logistics of the PG trainees during their service in periphery. Prof Dr Mahmood Shaukat, Principal AIMC/JHL, dispelled the impression of cutting down PG seats as there were 1,500 PG inductions per year, which is not less than any other country in the world. Then, he said, it is not obligatory that all undergraduates adopt specialisation as the population also needed doctors in primary and secondary healthcare. He rejected some quarters’ call for professors to do evening rounds, saying that there was a need to consider the changed circumstances and environment with population explosion, expansion of cities as complete healthcare services could not be provided to the patients in hospitals through revival of institutional private practice. However, he suggested regulating the private hospitals and clinics to ensure quality healthcare services to the patients round-the-clock.
Prof Dr Masood Sadiq, Chairman/Dean Children’s Hospital, Lahore, said the government and health authorities had to prefer quality over quantity in training specialists in order to ensure quality healthcare services to the patients. “It’s a privilege to do specialisation; therefore, it cannot be gifted, it has to be earned,” he added. Prof Dr Ghias-un-Nabi Tayyab, Principal Post Graduate Medical Institute/Lahore General Hospital, raised issue of variance in the marking standard of, say, King Edward Medical University in Lahore or Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur. He suggested developing a mechanism to troubleshoot this problem under the Central Induction Policy. Prof Dr Aamir Zaman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Fatima Jinnah Medical University and Counselor of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, said that CPSP fully supported the Central Induction Policy and would facilitate its implementation to ensure merit in PG inductions.
Besides, the newly-inducted PG residents Dr Aqsa Akram from QAMC Bahawalpur, Dr Shafqat Bhatti from SZH Rahimyar Khan and Dr Naeem from Army Medical College unanimously supported the Central Induction Policy that provided opportunity for medical graduates from underprivileged districts to secure admissions PG programmes in mega teaching hospitals of Lahore, through implementation of merit. “Earlier, the medical graduates from far-off districts were not so privileged to get admissions in PG programmes in mega teaching hospitals for not having any right political influence or financial capacity required in the absence of merit,” they added. Besides, University of Health Sciences, Vice-Chancellor Maj-Gen (R) Prof Muhammad Aslam, UHS Pro-VC Prof Dr Junaid Sarfraz Khan, FJMU VC Prof Dr Sardar Fakhar Imam, Chief Executive of Punjab Institute of Cardiology Prof Dr Nadeem Hayat Malik, Head of Mayo Hospital Prof Dr Asad Aslam Khan, Dr Asif Shah, MPA Bushra Ijaz, senior columnist/analyst Munnoo Bhai, GEO TV hosts and analysts Sohail Warraich and Ayesha Jehanzeb and others also spoke, while MKRMS Chairman Wasif Nagi conducted the roundtable conference.
