KARACHI- The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) expressed its concern about the present situation of chaos and confusion in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) that has severely affected the working of PMDC.
The Secretary-General, Pakistan Medical Association (Centre), Dr S.M. Qaisar Sajjad, in his statement said, as you know that on 5th January 2019, a presidential ordinance was promulgated by the President of Pakistan. According to this ordinance, a 17-member handpicked council will be nominated and will run the affairs of PMDC with ultimate power. PMA has already rejected this ordinance.
The current scenario is that after the promulgation of this ordinance, the previous ad-hoc committee headed by Justice Shakirullah Jan has ceased to exist. Since there is no new council on place after the ordinance, the PMDC seems to be in limbo. This situation is absolutely not acceptable to the PMA and the doctor fraternity.
He stated that the PMA had already written letters to the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan to withdraw this ordinance. We have also written letters to all the heads of political parties to support the PMA in this regard.
Dr Qaisar Sajjad further quoted that the PMA, as a stakeholder, again demands that this present ordinance should immediately be abolished as both houses of Parliament will not pass this. Eventually, there will be a new ad-hoc committee, and thus the musical chair game will persist.
Dr Sajjad demanded that this irrelevant ordinance should be dissolved and a new ordinance must be promulgated. Additionally, a new ad-hoc body of 3 to 4 honorable individuals must be formed and be given a time frame of not more than 60 days to hold elections and manage the day to day affairs only. The total strength of the council should be 35 members. The majority of them (24) must be elected by doctors representing public and private medical faculty, dental faculty, as well as family physicians from all provinces of the country.
He further demanded that the tenure of the new council should last four years as we want an autonomous, independent, honest, ethical and democratic PMDC. Before the promulgation of the new ordinance, all stakeholders including all political parties should be taken in confidence so that the new ordinance is passed on by both houses of Parliament without any hiccup.