Licensing exam cannot ensure quality of medical colleges: teachers' body.

Byline: Ikram Junaidi

ISLAMABAD -- The Medical Teachers Association (MTA) has termed the National Licensing Examination (NLE), which has been introduced by the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), 'eyewash' because it cannot ensure the quality of education in medical and dental colleges.

The association has demanded the restoration of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), warning that otherwise doctors' degrees will not be recognised internationally.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services (NHS) Dr Zafar Mirza has called the NLE the best filter to ensure only competent doctors are allowed to practice in the country.

Earlier this month, President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated an ordinance that dissolved the PMDC and established the PMC. A day later, the NHS ministry sealed the council building and fired its 220 employees.

The PMC has three components: the Medical and Dental Council, the National Medical and Dental Academic Board and the National Medical Authority; the authority will act as the commission's secretariat.

Under section 21 of the PMC Ordinance 2019, it will be mandatory to pass the NLE to obtain a provisional and full licence to practice in Pakistan. The National Medical Authority will hold the NLE at least twice a year according to a schedule approved by the council and it will be applicable on all students graduating after March next year.

Filters like the NLE have been introduced in other countries, Dr Zafar Mirza says

A member of faculty at a medical college said that although the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) must be passed before a doctor can obtain a licence to practice in the US, the examination was not introduced and administered abruptly.

According to the examination's official website, as cited by the faculty member, 'the USMLE is not administered immediately after graduation but students actually take the USMLE Step I when they are halfway through medical school, then the Step II closer to the end of medical school and Step III before the end of their internship [house job] year.

'Moreover, the USMLE standard is maintained and ensured by various examination committees composed of medical educators and clinicians from across the US,' he said.

The United Kingdom has yet to begin a medical licensing examination for its own graduates, according to the official website of the General Medical Council (GMC). In June 2015, the GMC announced that all doctors who wish to...