Senate body rejects PMDC Ordinance

A parliamentary panel while rejecting the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Ordinance on Friday said that there should be no ordinance that causes loss to doctors and students across the country and affects the degrees and credibility of the institution. The Senate Sub-Committee on National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination met under the convener-ship of Senator Dr Ashok Kumar and was attended among others by Senators Dr Asad Ashraf, Muhammad Javed Abbasi and Dr Ghous Muhammad Niazi, director regulations, registrar PMDC and other officials.
The committee discussed the report submitted by the Health Ministry and PMDC on the reservations raised by members of the committee regarding PMDC Ordinance, 2019, according to which it should be presented in the Parliament in the form of an act and amendments proposed by members should be incorporated in the said Act.
The committee discussed the issues related to posting and transfer criteria being observed by the council time to time for its officials, procedure being adopted for the appointment of members of the council as well as the registrar, and other administrative staff. Senator Javed Abbasi highlighted the significance and consequences of the PMDC Ordinance.
The committee unanimously rejected the Ordinance, which was passed un-constitutionally. The convener of the committee directed the officials concerned to redraft the ordinance and assured committee's support and help in this regard. While discussing the appointment, posting and transfer criteria, the committee showed its deep concerns over the appointment of the registrar and said this appointment raises many questions on the recruitment process which seems to be ambiguous. The convener of the committee said that students from Sindh and Balochistan are suffering in entry tests and admissions due to wrong policies of the institution.
The committee directed the PMDC officials to provide the draft of the admission policy, list of recognised colleges/universities and recruitments criteria before the committee in its next meeting which is scheduled to be held on August 19, 2019.