Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) discussed the concerns raised by foreign medical graduates during a joint meeting on Friday.
The meeting was held between the representatives of Foreign Medical Graduates and the Chairman Academic Board Dr. Adil Haider, the President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Council as well as the Executive Member and Member Examinations of the National Medical Authority.
The issue raised by the FMG relating to the number of attempts has already been addressed by the Medical and Dental Council and a notification issued allowing all students to have unlimited attempts to qualify for the NLE within a five-year period.
The other issue discussed in detail was the three mandatory stations in NLE 2. The Chairman Academic Board noted the FMG representatives’ concern that due to the subjective nature of marking in mandatory stations, students qualifying with an aggregate of higher than 70% end up failing due to not qualifying for a single mandatory station.
He highlighted that the mandatory stations represented essential basic skills like Basic Life Support and trauma care which is a competency every doctor is expected to have at the minimum.
The Chairman of the Academic Board informed the FMG representatives that he will discuss with the Board on an immediate basis in the coming week their concerns that either the mandatory stations should be based on an objective marking system or alternatively the requirement of passing all mandatory stations be removed.
In addition, he confirmed that mandatory stations if retained in the future will consist of the basic skills and will be in advance declared along with the relevant topics so that all students can specifically prepare for these skills.
The President informed the FMG representatives that in view of the Academic Board’s observations in their last meeting pertaining to the mandatory stations, students who had failed to qualify for a mandatory station but obtained more than 70% aggregate marks in all the 20 stations will be notified as qualified so that they are not placed at any disadvantage on account of subjective marking rather than objective marking.
The FMG representatives thanked the Chairman Academic Board, the Council, and the Authority for their consideration of the concerns of FMGs and finding solutions to the same and also appreciated the efforts of the Pakistan Medical Commission in providing quality regulatory processes and improving the quality of licensed medical practitioners.
