Sindh’s young doctors give Centre a week to revise PMC Ordinance

A large number of doctors belonging to Sindh’s Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Thursday held protest demonstrations across the province, including in Karachi, against the dissolution of the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) and vowed to mobilise doctors and the civil society until their regulatory body is restored.

They also condemned the creation of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) through an ordinance by the present government and demanded the restoration of the PMDC.

The protesters led by YDA Sindh Chairman Dr Omer Sultan, President Yaseen Umrani, Vice-President Dr Waris Ali Jakhrani and others gathered at the Najamuddin Auditorium of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and marched in the form of a rally towards the Jinnah Sindh Medical University.

Carrying banners and placards, the protesting doctors shouted slogans against the federal government and vowed not to let any “foreign agenda” be implemented in the country. All office-bearers of the YDA’s Karachi division units, including the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, the National Institute of Child Health, the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and the Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital, also attended the protest.

Dr Jakhrani said the YDA will not accept the new PMC Ordinance and urged the federal government to review this decision. He said the PMDC had registered 200,000 doctors and the registration of those doctors will be cancelled due to the PMC Ordinance. He said the doctors categorically rejected the National Licensing Exam (NLE) and termed the test a burden on the young medical fraternity. He added that the government had fixed the NLE’s fee at Rs50,000 and termed the decision an injustice with the medical community.

The YDA gave a week’s ultimatum to the federal government to revise the PMC Ordinance, otherwise they would expand their protest.