By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has unanimously approved the National Medical and Dental curriculum for the year 2023-24. The decision was made in PM&DC’s National Medical and Dental Academic Board meeting.
The Academic Board unanimously decided to constitute committees to review all the regulations and matters referred to the board entrusted under Section 13 of the PMDC Act 2022. Chairman HEC and President CPSP extended their full cooperation and assistance with the PMDC Council to achieve quality medical education in Pakistan to further upgrade the standards across the world.
The Academic Board will formulate the first-ever criteria, regulations and proforma for CME/CPD which will help to reinvigorate our doctors.
The CPSP has also ensured full support to assist and share measures taken in this regard at their end. The committee will also devise CME/ CPD credit hours for general and specialist medical and dental practitioners for further renewal of their PM&DC licenses.
The efforts of President PMDC Prof Dr Rizwan Taj along with its team were appreciated for taking a significant step towards international recognition by applying to the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) for its accreditation programme in due time along with organizing workshops to improve relations with medical and dental colleges for recognition of WFME.
The Academic Board is constituted of highly qualified professionals from all provinces of the country, known nationally and internationally. The 21-member board will serve a four-year term in terms of section 11 of PMDC Act 22.
The 21-member National Medical and Dental Academic Board (NMDAB) was notified by the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) on July 14, to oversee the policy to maintain quality of education in undergraduate and post-graduate medical and dental institutions across Pakistan.
The PMDC being the sole healthcare education regulator in Pakistan, aiming to improve healthcare delivery and education standards, sets excellence standards and implements them in all medical and dental institutes for undergraduate and postgraduate education.
The board’s primary functions are to frame medical and dental undergraduate accreditation standards, including curriculum, standards of medical Education / CME / CPD, academic standards of foreign institutions and examination standards, including the MDCAT, National Registration Examination and National Equivalence Board Examination.
It is pertinent to mention here that since the Academic Board was not constituted, PMDC adopted the policies framed by the previous academic board in the broader interest of the students and doctors, which included the MDCAT, NRE and NEB examinations.
The meeting was presided by the Chairman Academic Board Prof. Dr.Zahid Aman Dean Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar while Dr. Syed Azhar Ali Shah assisted the forum as Secretary to the Board. The meeting was attended by all the members of the Academic Board.
