The Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions (Pami) has urged the Sindh Governor to appoint an administrator in the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) to hold free and fair elections as it has become a political party. In a press release issued here, the Pami further demanded that all doctors/office-bearers working in the PMA be suspended and necessary action be taken against them.
It also urged the federal government to talk only to stakeholders and not to irrelevant bodies like the PMA, who had no business in medical education policymaking.
The Pami said the PMA had now assumed a political role to blackmail the medical community, adding the majority of the PMA office-bearers were government servants and in fact using the PMA's platform to promote their own interest.
The Pami executive committee at its recent meeting observed that the PMA's demand for its role in policymaking and medical education was an alarming situation and a strange request.
With the influx of substandard doctors produced by the public sector medical colleges, the large private hospitals decided to open private medical colleges with the consent of the government and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC).
It was then realised that the curricula was obsolete and out-dated and needed to be reviewed, the PM&DC was asked to review its curricula and representation of the private sector so that the stakeholders could be involved in uplifting medical education.
The PM&DC, being another body of government doctors, resisted to protect the deteriorating public sector medical colleges as they could not compete with private sector and did not want to be exposed as these professors were too involved on private practice instead of teaching students, the press release said.-PR