ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel, Monday, expressed serious anger over Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) for not implementing the directions of the parliament and even ignoring the directives of the prime minister (PM) for one year.
The Senate Sub-Committee on National Health Services and Regulations meeting held here under the convener-ship of Senator Rubina Khalid while discussing the matter of fake institutions registered with PNC, their affiliations with the hospitals and fake degrees/certificates issued to nurses inquired on the reasons for such a delay, saying the matter is pending since a year now which reflects the power of the PNC which seems to be even greater than the prime minister, she further added.
While reviewing the working paper furnished by the PNC was astonished to know that as per the PNC-affiliated nursing colleges in Sindh, 90 percent are ghost colleges having no direct affiliations with hospitals for clinical practice.
While directing the ministry to give a briefing on the amendment in the PNC (Amendment) Act, 2023, Senator Rubina Khalid said what kind of mafia is operating in the PNC? does it have no monitoring authority?
Rubina Khalid said “this is evident since the PNC failed to implement the directions of the senate committee as well at the National Assembly committee of the repatriation of Yasmeen Azad, assistant registrar PNC.” She criticized the status quo of the PNC and hoped that the new council will play an active and authoritative role to improvise the PNC setup.
The additional secretary Ministry of National Health Services informed the panel that the ministry has constituted a new Nursing Council and with the formation of the new council, the role of the registrar and other personnel on deputation will be changed. The additional secretary said the new council will act as a governing body and its first meeting will be held tomorrow.
He said that once the new council started to operate the issue of fake degrees and colleges, it would immediately be addressed and the order of repatriation would also be complied. The sub-committee decided that the new council in particular, the president, and representation from the ministry be invited to the next sub-committee meeting, soon after the first internal meeting of the council.
The PNC in its brief to the committee insisted that the Council does not recognise any ghost or fake nursing institutes and stern legal actions are being taken against any ghost institutes. The committee inquired on the number and list of colleges closed so far, to which, the registrar PNC went numb.
The sub-committee also directed the PNC to provide an inquiry report if any conducted ever since its establishment on monitoring of ghost colleges and as to whether any of them got closed by the Council, in the next meeting.
The committee also questioned, on the point mentioned in the brief that no other department including public and private except the PNC can regulate or conduct the nursing diplomas/degrees/courses/program which are being offered by registrar nursing institutes/colleges in the country.
The matter was deferred for further deliberation and report.
In the meeting, senators, Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani and Jam Mehtab Hussian Dahar, Additional Secretary Ministry of Health and other representatives from the ministry and the PNC participated.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023