18 new members of PMDC elected

By Our Staff Reporter

Islamabad: Although the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has not yet announced the results of its council’s elections, successful candidates were identified when the election committee dispatched names of the 18 new council members to the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) for publication in the Gazette of Pakistan.

The PMDC Council elections were held across the country on Dec 5, in Punjab on Dec 15 and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Dec 19.

The election committee was headed by Justice (retd) Tariq Parvez while its members included Prof Abid Farooqi and Khashiur Rehman.

The election committee in its letter sent to the ministry stated that the council had received acknowledgement from all quarters as to their overall satisfaction regarding fair and free elections on 18 seats.

The letter said that for public sector universities -- Prof Dr Ibrar Ashraf was elected from Punjab, Dr Basir Ali Khan from Sindh, Dr Ejaz Hassan Khan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Dr Shabbir Lehri from Balochistan.

For private universities, Maj-Gen Khaliq Naveed was elected from Punjab and Dr Ahmed Hussain from KP. No-one contested for the seat of private medical colleges from Sindh, while there is no private medical college in Balochistan.

In the category of general practitioners, Dr Aamir Hussain was elected from Punjab, Dr Mussadiq Khan from Islamabad, Jamaluddin Shaikh from Sindh, Dr Mussarat Hussain from KP, Dr Shafiqur Rehman from Balochistan and Dr Khayalur Rehman from Fata.

In the dental practitioners category, Imran Naseer was elected from Punjab, Dr Farrukh Ijaz from Islamabad, Dr M Feroz Jehangir from Sindh, Dr Mohammad Haroon from KP, Dr Abdul Samad Mengal from Balochistan and Dr Taj Mohammad from Fata.

According to sources, the list of elected council members had been sent to the federal government with a request to notify the names of elected members in the official gazette while the government may, simultaneously, issue a notification regarding the membership of nominees.

It also requested the government to call the first meeting to elect the executive committee, president and vice president of the council.

PMDC’s Registrar Brig (retd) Dr Hafizuddin Ahmed Siddiqui told newsmen that there were over 35 seats of the council, out of which 20 were to be filled through elections, while the remaining 15 seats would be filled through nominations.

“There is one seat each for the National Assembly and Senate, four seats will be filled by provincial health secretaries and one seat is for the director-general of NHS. One member is also nominated by Supreme Court of Pakistan, while another seat will be filled by Pakistan Army’s surgeon general,” he said, adding two seats will be filled by philanthropists and four members will be nominated by the federal government.

He said that as soon as names of members were finalised, a meeting will be held to elect the council’s president and vice president.