Only qualified specialists to be authorized to practice

ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP): Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Friday said doctors having acquired additional medical or dental postgraduate qualifications, will be authorized to practice as specialists in their respective specialty and can render expert opinion. The registered medical or dental practitioners having only basic medical or dental qualification are not authorized to carry out specialized procedures and all doctors have been directed to display their PMDC registration certificate prominently at the place of practice. Talking to mediapersons after presiding over consultative meeting of the members of Executive Committee at PMDC, President PMDC Prof. Dr. Masood Hameed Khan said that PMDC will make surprise inspections to check the implementation of this decision. He said these measures have been taken in order to check quackery.
He said the meeting discussed various issues related to medical dental education to improve the standards of medical and dental education.
The committee decided that in future all the doctors having post-graduate degrees will be mentioned in their PMDC registration certificates along with their degree awarding and training institutions to maintain all the data of the specialist doctors.
He said the Committee decided that all post-graduate students will have to provide a transcript of their training, as per Form 7 to endorse professional education of the doctors and to ensure they have professional knowledge of the specialty, and requisite skills to carry out procedures and medical ethics.
He said the committee resolved that all doctors using unregistered degrees or additional qualification of any specialty with their names which are not registered with PM&DC, will be dealt with strict disciplinary action.
The Committee decided that in addition to the registration of additional degrees, PMDC will also issue a license for practicing medicine for which all doctors will have avail mandatory credit hours of Continuous Medical Education (CME) to stay updated with the new medical technologies and innovations.
He said, a unique number will also be allotted to students who are enrolled with the PMDC at the time they start medical or dental college education.
This number will continue as their registration number throughout their career as every year around 13000 to 14000 students are enrolled in different medical and dental colleges every year, he added.
With this system, complete data of doctors could be viewed anywhere in the world by just entering this number on PMDC website, he said. It will enhance the system of verification of doctors working abroad, he added.
PMDC President informed that a consultant in near future will be hired to make the procedural system of PMDC according to the modern times to make the system completely transparent and efficient.
The President PM&DC said all registered Medical and Dental Practitioners have been advised to write only those medical or dental qualifications against their names which have been duly registered by the Council in their registration certificate on the board and prescription.
He said if any doctor will be reported to have carried out any specialized procedures for which he or she doesn’t have required additional qualification, he or she will be liable to be proceeded against as per law which may result in suspension or cancellation of his or her license to practice altogether.
He said that the patients going for consultation with the physician or dentists have been advised to verify the medical or dental qualification of the doctor registered by the Council.
He said that the Council is trying hard to uplift and improve the working atmosphere of PMDC and improving the medical dental education policies according to the international standards.