ISLAMABAD: The new management committee of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has taken a number of steps to ease the workload of doctors and medical students.

However, some stakeholders feel that the committee should focus on its main task of holding elections to the council.

It may be noted that President Mamnoon Hussain promulgated the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Amendment Ordinance 2015 on August 28 after which the executive council of the PMDC stood dissolved. The new management committee was constituted to hold elections to the executive council within 120 days.

The management committee on Monday dropped the mandatory written test (exit exam) for medical students to start practice after completing the one-year house job.

A few months ago, the then management of the PMDC had introduced the condition of the written test to keep the students updated with medical studies and advances. However, the stu-dents were concerned that they might not clear the test to start medical practice even af ter completion of the house job.

According to a statement issued by the PMDC on Tuesday, the decision was taken by the management committee at a meeting attended by its members Prof Dr Abid Faroogi, Prof Dr Syed Nadeem Hassan Rizwi, Khashiur Rehman and Saira Najeeb. Committee Chairman retired Maj-Gen Dr Azhar Mehmood Kayani said the decision was taken in the best interest of the doctors/medical students as the condition of clearing the exit exam had caused apprehensions among them.

`Instead of examining medical/dental students after having qualified through all the necessary examinations, the committee has decided to inspect the hospitals to monitor the training facilities for the house job,` he said.

On September 18, the management committee also waived the requirement of producing a training letter by doctors for the renewal of their registration with the PMDC. In February 2015, the then management had made the training letter mandatory for the renewal of registra-tion to keep the doctors abreast of changes and advances in the medical research.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services requesting not to be quoted said it seemed the new PMDC management was only interested in getting the sympathies of doctors and medical students.

`All over the world, enhancing medical education and keeping in touch with new developments are necessary for accreditation. The management committee should not abolish the decisions taken by the PMDC council,` he said.

`There is a possibility that some of the members in the council are interested in the elections of the PMDC which are going to be held within 120 days,` he said.

However, an official of the PMDC on the condition of anonymity said none of management committee members was interested in the elections.

`The decisions were taken because doctors faced a lot of difficulties in meeting these requirements which had been made obligatory during the last a couple of years without taking into account the ground realities. The latestdecisions will end the apprehensions among the medical professionals,` he said.

Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) general secretary Dr Mirza Azhar Ali said it had been a popular demand among doctors to waive the condition of the continuous medical education (CME). He, however, said the PMA had never opposed the condition of CME from its platform.

`A few decades ago medicines and procedure of operations were totally different as compared to what they are today, so steps were required to update the knowledge and skills of doctors. But instead of taking steps for the capacity building of doctors, the former management suddenly introduced the CME,` he said.

`The names of senior doctors were advertised as quacks just because their registration could not be renewed due to the condition of the CME.

Moreover, doctors in rural areas were also suffering. It is a good decision of the new management committee but it should also focus on holding the elections in a free and fair manner within 120 days,` he said.

Dr Tariq Niazi of the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) in Rawalpindi, who is also the vice-pres-ident of the PMA Punjab, said the decision would provide relief to the young doctors.

`Once a doctor passes the final examination and completes the one-year house job, they do not need to appear in another exam.` He said the former PMDC management had made a number of controversial decisions for making money and promoting private medical institutes. He said the PMDC should also ban all those private medical colleges which were not able to provide proper educational facilities to the students.

Dr Tahir Sharif, who also works with the HFH, said the young doctors had been feeling upset after the decision of the PMDC`s former management.

Dr Haider Akhter of Young Doctors Association (YDA) Rawalpindi chapter also welcomed the decision, adding the exit examination system was an extra burden on the doctors.

However, he said the interim setup of the PMDC should focus on removing the wrong decisions of the past managements but should not impose new rules at the behest of the government.