ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Islamabad chapter on Sunday appreciated the decision of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) of giving exemption to medical graduates of Pakistani medical and dental colleges from the National Licensing Examination (NLE).

In a statement, PMA President Dr Akhtar Ali Bandesha and General Secretary Dr. Mubashir Mushtaq Daha said that now, PMDC had started issuing permanent registration certificates to doctors who graduated from Pakistani medical and dental colleges, without the requirement of NLE.

They said that this important step was taken in accordance with the pledge of Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel, who made this during the meeting with the PMA Islamabad chapter. They said the PMA truly represented the doctors’ community and made sincere efforts to get success in the fulfillment of their genuine demands including exemption from NLE.

They said that taking up all the relevant matters and affairs by the PMDC was a good sign. The PMDC started its registration portal as a priority after making all necessary arrangements for the transition from PMC to PMDC. In this regard, an interactive PMDC online portal has been launched to facilitate doctors throughout the country while the PMDC also started issuing good-standing certificates and renewals, the expressed.

They said that keeping in view the demand of the PMA and on the direction of the Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel, this step was taken after the PMA raised this issue at various concerned forums for their community.

They said that the PMA Islamabad chapter would continue its efforts to address the problems of medical students and the doctors’ community.

It is pertinent to mention here that the NLE exam was mandatory earlier as per the previous law of PMC and the local graduates had to appear and pass the NLE exam before getting their permanent registration.

In this regard, several protests and demonstrations were held by different doctor forums and organizations at different levels and the past government was appealed repeatedly to withdraw the said black law.

Previously, as per PMC law, NLE was undertaken by doctors who graduated from Pakistan’s approved medical and dental colleges which was highly criticized by the doctors’ community throughout the country.

After the opening of registration, on the first day, 1,500 registration certificates were issued while approximately 10,000 doctors who were waiting for their permanent registration for a long time were invited to apply for online registration.

These graduates waited for quite a long time to get themselves registered but failed due to the rigid rules imposed by past PMC.