Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has put together a search committee with seven people who will be in charge of putting people on the Medical and Dental Council and the National Medical and Dental Academic Board of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC).
The committee will put out ads asking for applications from people who meet the requirements, and then it will follow the right steps to make them members.
The Minister of National Health Services, Abdul Qadir Patel, will be in charge of the search committee. The secretary of the establishment will be the vice chairman.
Dr. Mohammad Aurangzeb, who is the federal health secretary, Dr. Syed Ali Farhan Razi, MNAs Zahra Wadood Fatemi, and Prof. Dr. Aamir Aziz are also members.
The Health Minister will run the body, and PMC workers are begging the Prime Minister not to fire them.
It’s important to note that on August 20, PM Sharif pulled the nominations of seven of the nine people on the PMC. This stopped the PMC from working.
The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) was dissolved by the Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance 2019, which was later replaced by the Pakistan Medical Commission Act 2020. This made way for the PMC.
“In exercise of powers conferred by the PMC Act 2020, the nominating authority i.e. Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has withdrawn the nomination of all members of the Medical and Dental Council notified on 25th September 2020,” says a government document called a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO).
According to the PMC Act, the prime minister could choose seven of the nine members. He or she could choose three people from civil society, three licensed doctors, and one licensed dentist.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Health and the Surgeon General of the Armed Forces are members of the commission by right.
“Students from all over the country, especially from Balochistan, were complaining to the prime minister that provinces weren’t represented in the PMC, which made provinces feel like they were missing out,” government sources said.
Another round of firings is likely
The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Bill 2022 is almost ready to be passed. If it does, hundreds of people may lose their jobs for the second time in the last three years. So, people who work for the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) have asked the government to stop this from happening.
When the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government got rid of the PMDC and made the Pakistan Medical Commission, more than 200 regular PMDC workers with jobs that could lead to pensions were put out on the street (PMC).
In 2019, many people lost their jobs because of a decision made by the PTI government. Tens of pensioners and their families also suffered because they stopped getting their pensions.
The employees took their case to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which put everyone back on their original terms and said that all of the PMC’s appointments were illegal.
But the employees could not be brought back.
The National Assembly has already passed a bill that says the PMC should be gotten rid of and the PMDC should be brought back.
A former employee of the now-defunct PMDC who didn’t want to be named said that the same work was done in the PMDC by people in a department that got paid one-fourth as much as the current employees did. “Even if this bill didn’t pass, all PMC workers are hired on contracts that can be ended at any time with one month’s notice,” he said.
“The PMC fired more than 220 people who worked for the PMDC. More than 30 regular employees were sent home with only seven to eight months of pay. “The PMC fired more than 25 contract workers who had worked there for more than five years without telling them and without giving them any pay or benefits,” he said.
“The PMC cut off the pensions of more than 30 old people who couldn’t work anywhere. The commission didn’t care that they were too old to work. On the other hand, the PMC hired people with the highest salaries, ranging from Rs300,000 to Rs1.1 million, even though most of them didn’t meet the basic requirements or have experience, according to a former PMDC official.
On the other hand, people who work for PMC have asked the government not to fire them.
The letter said that more than 120 PMC workers are worried that they might lose their jobs. It also said that these workers want to work for the government. They have asked the prime minister and the health minister to think about what they have to say.
The employees asked the government not to let them lose their jobs and to change the way the Medical and Dental Council is set up in the future, the report said, adding that all PMC employees were the main breadwinners for their families.
They are worried that in these conditions and with the way the economy is right now, it is impossible to live without a job.
Again, the top people are asked to please pay attention to this as soon as possible, the statement said.
