Pakistan Medical and Dental Council is dissolved

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court dissolved the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) governing body. PMDC regulates medical educational institutes across Pakistan.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar headed the three-member bench hearing a case regarding the functioning of the council. He has also ordered the formation of an interim committee which is to hold new elections and select fresh members of the council and run PMDC affairs until the new council has effectively taken the charge.

Medical colleges' representatives of four provinces, Islamabad and the attorney general will be part of the committee, the court ruled.

Talking to the media after the hearing, Sardar Latif Khosa, the council of former PMDC president Dr Masood Hameed Khan, said this is a historic decision. He criticised the government for operating PMDC despite the expiry of the related ordinance.

Hearing the case, the chief justice had observed that they will not allow the PMDC to function if it is operating illegally.

The court was hearing the PMDC's appeal against a Lahore High Court decision of December last year ordering the dissolution of the PMDC council.

The Supreme Court had regretted that the government failed to introduce a new law after the PMDC (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 lapsed in April of 2016 and the matter went to the high court.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar formed an interim committee that will run the affairs of PMDC.