KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has demanded that the government immediately abolish a presidential ordinance regarding the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and promulgate a new ordinance and a new ad hoc committee to establish an independent and autonomous regulatory body for medical education.

PMA-centre secretary general Dr Qaiser Sajjad said that the association had already rejected the 2019 PMDC ordinance under which a 17-member handpicked council would be nominated to run its affairs with absolute powers.

“We want an autonomous, independent, honest, ethical and democratic PMDC,” he said.

The total strength of the council should be 35 members, most of them (24) be elected by doctors representing public and private medical faculty, dental faculty, family physicians from all provinces, he added.

According to Dr Sajjad, the council seems to have been in a limbo as the previous ad hoc committee headed by retired Justice Shakirullah Jan has ceased to exist after the president promulgated the ordinance.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2019