Suggestions for the PMDC

This refers to the news report, ‘PMDC dissolved, new elections in 120 days’ (August 29). The best way to run the PMDC is to dissolve its provincial medical councils to create a single body with no parallel siblings in the provinces and then creating a think tank of doctors for permanent legislation. For this, the PMDC already has a provision for subspecialty boards in each subspecialty field of medical and surgical arts. The PMDC ordinance should be amended with the help of this think tank. Since it is a scientific body, there is no point in appointing lay nominees as its members.
Moreover, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council recognises the teaching experience of those who teach medical students but this is denied to those who train senior house officers and resident doctors. Anomalies like these in the PMDC ordinance need to be addressed. The PMDC should also refrain from conducting CME programmes because they rightly belong to higher regulatory bodies like the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) as in other countries. Also, the PMDC-CPSP rivalry is unwelcome.
Dr M Ilahi
Islamabad