Dr Arshad Taqi president Pakistan medical commission said that PMC has been functional for almost 4 weeks. In this natal period initial steps have been taken by the Council to first and foremost ensure that all urgent pending matters are handled and properly resolved. In this respect we would like to update the media and the public of some of the salient steps which have been taken while he was addressing press conference today.
The Council meanwhile has been in parallel working on a long term vision for PMC as a national regulator which not only ensure quality of professionals who can serve the health needs of the society but also provide necessary information to the planners and regulators about the availability and potential requirements to improve the overall health care delivery to all citizens of Pakistan. This includes creating a completely digital environment to ensure efficient regulatory operations and for assembling critical data of the educational and professional sector. The vision includes not only ensuring initial competence of a licensed doctor but also ensuring that they continue to remain updated in terms of their knowledge and skills in line with the constant progress in healthcare technology and practice.
Until such time as the permanent hiring is undertaken as per the Organogram and criteria approved by the Council, on interim basis for a period not exceeding 90 days on a temporary basis a very small staff has been recruited by the Council which includes 8 management personnel and 22 support staff. They are working under the direct control of the Council and the President.
First priority of the Council is to process and provide all pending urgent applications. This has been done and Good Standing Certificates and applications for verifications have been processed. ____ Certificates have been issued already.
NEB Registration for students wanting to sit for the NEB Step1 Exam on 1st December have been processed and provided to NUMS who have yesterday processed and prepared the Admitting Cards. The Exam will proceed on 1st December as scheduled.
The new web site of the Commission was made functional on an urgent basis and is fully functional. An email info@pmc.pakistan.gov.pk has been functional and all students and doctors have been requested to send their queries and applications on the same which are being responded to on a daily and immediate basis. This is to ensure an efficient and tracked system to cater to all requirements.
A 24/7 helpline and customer service facility has been organized and will be operational within a week which will provide all students and doctors to call a toll free number in order to have their queries answered including update of status of their pending applications if any.
The IT networking system has been enabled in PMC providing internet and connectivity on an immediate basis. Further requirements for the complete digitalization of PMC is being processed and will be undertaken on an expedited basis to enable students and doctors to process their applications online and efficiently.
The process of new student registration and the issuance of provisional licenses to students about to graduate has been overhauled and simplified doing away with unnecessary repetitive documentations previously demanded from students and verification of their being admitted to college or having graduated from university being procured and verified directly from the relevant colleges and universities. New forms for registration of fresh students and for grant of provisional licenses are being sent to the colleges and universities in the coming week and provided to students online.
For further ease of students online collection accounts have been opened with National Bank of Pakistan so as to allow students to deposit their necessary fees at any NBP brand across Pakistan rather than having to undertake the cumbersome process of preparing bank drafts etc.
For recognition of Postgraduate qualifications issued by CPSP a process has been agreed where verifications required by CPSP will be directly communicated to the Commission and for verifications required by the Commission the same will be communicated to CPSP which will be verified on an immediate basis through a secure on line system again easing the burden on the candidates who would in the past be required to acquire certificates for verification on multiple occasions.
Online verification services from NADRA have been arranged to enable immediate verification of credentials by the Commission again easing the burden on students and doctors who had to in the past obtain these verifications themselves.
All these steps are designed to minimize the needs of doctors and students to personally visit the Commissions offices or run around to obtain copies and verifications each time an application is made to the Commission. This is also part of the immediate vision to convert PMC into a wholly IT enabled online structure comparable to international standards of similar regulators.
Similar arrangements are being discussed with international regulators to put in place verification and communications systems which are operated on an immediate and efficient basis easing the time delay in processing applications of our doctors and students who were seeking admission or work abroad.
A detailed initial meeting has been held with HEC to initiate the process under which in the long term HEC will be carrying out the inspections of medical and dental colleges in collaboration with PMC to enable the institutions to be affiliated with an HEC recognized University and corresponding registration with PMC for purposes of recording and tracking the medical and dental students to ensure that PMC can efficiently issue licenses when these students graduate.
The Admissions Board is functional and overseeing the central admissions process nationally and will be ensuring that any and all issues which arise are dealt with on an urgent basis.
In view of the change in law, the PMC will not be involved in processing or issuing any experience certificates as was done in the past for faculty. However, PMC for monitoring purposes will only be registering any person electing to become a faculty and only recording change in their status of employment as faculty. The experience of a faculty is a matter to be determined by a hiring institution and past experience will be verified by the past employing institutions as that is their responsibility. The minimum criteria of faculty as exists in the standards and criteria already in place and applicable shall be adhered to by the employing institutions in addition to any additional criteria they may elect to have for purposes of their faculty.
It has been clarified that the fee for MBBS and BDS programs for which admissions are underway remains a maximum of Rs.950,000 as per the previous Regulations which have been saved by the law for the purposes of these current admissions. Any student who has a complaint in this regard may contact the Admissions Board immediately through an email admission.complaint@pmc.pakistan.gov.pk In addition PMC is informing the colleges to provide a verified statement as to what tuition fee, hostel fee and other charges are being demanded by them in current admissions so as to ensure there is no violation.
In view of renewal of licenses having been replaced with a 5 year revalidation process which will be structured by the Academic Board, at this time the Commission will be processing any fresh applications for renewal only for two years to ensure licenses remain valid as having already been issued. Revalidation is a major step in bringing the licensing regime in Pakistan on par with international standards which will also benefit our doctors seeking to obtain access to foreign jurisdictions for work.
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