ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (APP): The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) has issued over 8,000 permanent registration certificates to Pakistani doctors so far, without the requirement of the National Licensing Examination (NLE).
According to an official of PM&DC, this exam was mandatory earlier as per the previous law of Pakistan Medical Council (PMC) as the local graduates had to appear and pass the NLE exam before getting their permanent registration, even after graduation from Pakistani medical and dental colleges.
He said that in this regard, several protests and demonstrations were held by different doctor forums and organizations at different levels and the past government was appealed repeatedly to withdraw the said black law.
Previously, as per PMC law, the NLE was undertaken by doctors who graduated from Pakistan’s approved medical and dental colleges which was highly criticized by the doctors’ community throughout the country.
He said that keeping in view the demand of the doctors and on the direction of the Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel, this step was taken after signing the concerned legislation by the President of Pakistan.
Taking up all the relevant matters and affairs, the PM&DC started its registration portal as a priority after making all necessary arrangements for the transition from PMC to PMDC.
In this regard, an interactive PM&DC online portal has been launched to facilitate doctors throughout the country. He said that on the first day, 1,500 registration certificates have been issued while PMDC also started issuing good-standing certificates and renewals.
“We invite all the local graduates, who are approximately over 10,000 and waiting for their permanent registration for a long time to apply online for registration.” These graduates waited for quite a long time to get themselves registered but failed due to the rigid rules imposed by past PMC, he added.
He said that one of the objectives of PM&DC is to make the registration portal in a way that is seamless to use, easy to navigate, and must be user-friendly.
He added that PM&DC right after its promulgation, ensured that the registration portal should be accurate enough and must be able to secure the storage of confidential information of doctors and to develop a system that provides a secure payment system for application fees and develop a system for tracking and managing applications.
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