Federal Health Secretary Syed Anwar Mehmood on Sunday said there was need to make amendments in Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Act and colleges and universities providing standard education should be represented in the council.
Speaking at the concluding session of First Symposium of National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and later talking to newsmen, he said private colleges had approached to ministry of health and urged to take up the issue of such colleges representations in the PMDC.
We have arranged a meeting of private colleges with PMDC and they have made some positive progress in this regard. Concern of private institutions is justified and they should be given representation provided they are delivering quality education, he said.
Colleges and universities failing to criteria laid down by PMDC should be recognised in private and public sector both. The yearly recognition of colleges should not be practiced any more by council as it has no sense that PMDC recognise medical students but do not recognise their education institutions. There are quality private institutions especially in Karachi, he added.
He said PMDC had also suggested amendments in its Act, in which it had shown willing to give representation to private institutions beside reducing its membership to 26 from 52 at present.
Government will form a central testing board, whose exam will be mandatory for every medical students before getting registered with PMDC.
To a query, he said government was focusing on prevention beside providing quality treatment to patients. We are making strategies to improve primary care gradually. Routine immunisation is also being improved and four million additional new-borns are being administered vaccine every year, he said.
Government is also serious to develop policy to reduce maternal mortality and will take certain steps to improve concept of trained birth attendants at the time of delivery, he added.
In a reply to a question, he said around 25 acres land of JPMC has been encroached and now it was seemed to be difficult to get vacated this land from grabbers.
He asked NICH director to submit PC1 for establishment of new units for chest, gastroenterology, infectious diseases and neurology with the ministry of health and he would get it approved soon after apprising the federal minister of health.
Anwar expressed his concern on the fact that patients faced many difficulties from traffic chaos while rushing to NICH, JPMC and NICVD and stressed to make some planning to solve this problem amicably.
He also suggested that private sector should be encouraged in the expansion of JPMC and constructing two blocks at the premises for new and old departments.
Earlier, Director NICH Prof. Afroze Ramzan Sherali said there was not sufficient funds for research projects. Nursing staff is also working with meager facilities that should be increased like salary structure, she added announcing to hold a nursing symposium in October 2005. Dr Iftikhar January delivered vote of thanks.