PHC stays interviews for FCPS-II trainees’

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday stayed interviews for induction of trainee medical officers for FCPS-II in the government hospitals of the province.

A single bench of Justice Nasir Mehfooz issued the stay order in a writ petition filed by 15 MBBS students, including Dr Asmatullah and others, who challenged the inclusion of TMOs for FCPS-II training under the new criteria.

During the hearing, Muhammad Ijaz Khan Sabi, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that the petitioners qualified MBBS examinations and then FCPS-I examination conducted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. He argued that the dean/chief executive of Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) had conveyed to secretary Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the proposed revised criteria for approval for induction of FCPS-II TMOs and accordingly approved on June 26, 2018. The counsel contended that the petitioners, after passing the FCPS-I examinations held in September/November 2018, knew about the revised criteria for induction into FCPS-II. Under the revised criteria, he said, besides academic qualification, the marks obtained in the ETEA test are also counted.

He argued that as per section 15 of the PGMI (Medical Education) Regulation 2011, students for the postgraduate medical courses shall be selected strictly on the basis of their academic merit and thus the respondents through the impugned criteria have violated the aforesaid regulation.

The lawyer submitted before the court that the new criterion for induction in FCPS-II training is illegal and against section-15 of the regulation.

The court stayed the interviews, which were to be held today, and issued a notice to the secretary health, chief executive of PGMI and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council to submit a reply in the petition.