ISLAMABAD: A three-member Supreme Court’s bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed recently observed that the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has derailed the SC’s efforts to streamline private medical and dental colleges. The court added that it seemed the PMC “has been established to provide benefit to private medical and dental colleges”.
Hearing a case regarding the dissolved Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that the court’s aim was to improve the quality of medical education in Pakistan and stop medical colleges from making exorbitant profits.
A lawyer, representing the PMC said the PMDC was an autonomous department and the PMC has four ancillary departments, because of which its power has been divided. The court was also informed that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved its decision in a case regarding the termination of service of PMDC employees.
The court ordered the Sindh and Balochistan high courts not to announce their verdicts in related cases before the IHC issues its decision. The court also observed that the SC can be contacted again after the IHC’s decision is announced.
It is pertinent to mention here that the PMDC was dissolved by an ordinance promulgated in 2019, which paved the way for the establishment of the PMC. On the very next day, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) sealed the PMDC building and announced that the services of its 220 employees had been terminated.
The PMC consisted of three components: the Medical and Dental Council, the National Medical and Dental Academic Board and the National Medical Authority which would act as its secretariat.
Later, the PMC elected Dr Arshad Taqi as president and advocate Ali Raza as vice president.
Former PMDC employees have been seeking reinstatement and have held a number of protests outside the PMC and the National Press Club in this regard.
-DN REPORT
Dr Muattar Hanif
The author is Editor at Dental News Pakistan and can be reached at newsdesk@medicalnewsgroup.com.pk
