CPSP working to improve Pakistan’s image internationally

Islamabad: College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) has been working hard to improve further the image of Pakistan internationally by maintaining high standards in post-graduate medical education and it has never been in an unhealthy competition with the medical universities in Pakistan awarding MD (Doctor of Medicine) and MS (Masters in Surgery) degrees.

Director General International Affairs at CPSP Dr. Shoaib Shafi expressed this while talking to ‘The News’ in connection with recent reports about sacking of Pakistani doctors in KSA who have MD or MS degrees from Pakistani medical universities.

There emerged reports that Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS) has rejected MD and MS degrees from Pakistani universities for the slots of specialists and has de-accredited these post-graduate degree programmes, removing the MD and MS degrees from eligibility list for important positions.

The reports emerged as a few Pakistani doctors having MD or MS degrees were served notices in KSA after annual appraisal though later the cases appeared to be as individual ones. Few doctors started giving a wrong impression that the degrees of MS and MD have been de-accredited by the SCHS because of a campaign by CPSP during a recent visit of CPSP delegation to KSA, by the end of April this year.

According to the SCHS Executive Regulation for Professional Classification and Registration 2017-18, MS and MD from Pakistani universities have not been included in any of the three categories of general specialties, how these can be removed or de-accredited, said Dr. Shafi.

He added that according to SCHS, the FCPS (Fellowship) falls in the second category while MCPS (Membership of CPSP) has been included in the third category along with MS/MD degrees from Bangladesh and India.

The CPSP is the highest degree awarding institution in Pakistan on postgraduate medical education in over 74 disciplines and it has already been working in a number of countries including KSA, UK and Ireland while FCPS is widely recognized around the globe, he said.

Over 80 per cent of specialists in medical profession are recipients of the degrees by the CPSP, an autonomous institution that was established in 1962 under the act of parliament, he added. He said that the efforts to tarnish the image of CPSP by some individuals for their vested interests would come out to be an effort to tarnish the image of the country. The CPSP is working hard to improve post-graduate medical education in the country, he said.