Dental Tribune Pakistan Edition No. 4, 2015

6 DENTAL TRIBUNE Pakistan Edition July 2015 SLAMABAD- In a recent public notice issued by PM&DC, the regulatory body has recalled earlier decision of submission of CME hours at the time of renewal instead and directed all medical and dental practitioners to submit an affidavit year wise CME hours until 31st December of every y e a r . Further, the number of hours to be acquired by GPs and Specialist were revised. The executive committee met on the 29th of May 2015 in Karachi to discuss the much talked CME topic following recent imposition of mandatory acquisition of accredited CME hours by medical and dental practitioners. The meeting recalled its decision to submit CME certificates instead and instructed to submit an affidavit along with renewal forms undertaking to submit CME hours on yearly basis from 1st January 2016. The regulatory body also provided an amnesty for the medical and dental practitioners to have the practicing license renewed before 31st December 2015 without the submission of CME hours provided the affidavit of undertaking is attached. The minimum number of CME hours which previous was 25 and 50 for GPs and specialists, has now been revised to 75 and 150 hours respectively. In the notification issued from the PM&DC website, the body further stated the GPs are to acquire CME hours in any field of interest, however specialists are required to take 50% of the CME hours in their field of specialty and 50% in any other than its respective specialty. The body further stated that under the circumstances a doctor do not wishes to practice, a certificate stating “Not valid for Practice” may be issued on request. 3-year term of service made mandatory for faculty SLAMABAD- Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has formulated a policy whereby faculty members cannot leave medical and dental colleges before completing a mandatory period of three years. A decision to this effect taken by the PMDC’s executive committee of the PMDC will be applicable to the entire existing faculty as well as to the fresh appointees. All the recognized medical and dental colleges have been directed to implement the policy forthwith. However, the faculty members can leave the institution if his or her status was upgraded because of experience or research work and the institution concerned did not want to offer them the upgraded posts. A faculty member can also leave the institution if they want to avail the leave preparatory to retirement (LPR) or reaching the age of 70 years. Moreover, a teacher can also leave if his or her institution submits an assurance that it would not create deficiency of the faculty members in the institution. The executive committee has decided that if a faculty member was relieved of the job because of some negligence or unavoidable circumstances, the matter will have to be reported to the PMDC for issuing a no-objection certificate. Meanwhile, well-informed sources said that the decision is aimed at ensuring that students might not suffer on account of frequent changes of teachers. An official of the PMDC, who wished not to be quoted, said whenever a new medical or dental college is set up it usually offers a very handsomepackage to attract teachers to fulfill the mandatory list of faculty members for the registration process. He said: “It is because of attractive offers, a number of faculty members leave their institutions in the middle of semesters and join the new institutes and as such it is the students who, ultimately, suffer. Moreover, the PMDC had also received complaints that some faculty members work in more than one institution, simultaneously, he added. He said that now medical colleges will have to submit lists of their faculty members every year. PMDC’S NEW RULING HEC gets over 72% of education budget Provinces may raise education budget up to 3pc: Dar SLAMABAD- Higher Education Commission (HEC) has got over 72 per cent of the total education budget announced by Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in his budget speech in the National Assembly. Of the total Rs98 billion education budget, earmarked for the next fiscal year budget (2015-16) under the head of education sector’s development and non- development projects, the HEC’s share comes to Rs71bn. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the provinces had agreed in the recent National Economic Council (NEC) meeting to increase education spending from 1.8pc to 3pc of the GDP. “It is, however, tricky business”, he remarked. According to documents, the education budget for the next financial year has been increased y 13pc as compared to last year’s Rs86bn. But, the allocation for the education ministry has been decreased by Rs1bn. The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training has been allocated Rs2.2bn under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) as against last year’s Rs3.5bn. However, officials of the federal education ministry were shocked when the NEC rejected their Rs1bn education sector reforms proposal for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) institutions and Rs300 million for the Basic Education Community Schools project. Under the circumstances, it seems that the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) will continue to look after schools and colleges in Islamabad, instead of the education ministry. I New SOPs for CME issued by PM&DC By Dental Tribune International DT Pakistan Report I ARACHI - Several public sector health facilities in the city are facing acute shortage of employees and at least three of them have been virtually closed, it was authoritatively learnt. Moreover, similar situation has been prevailing in many hospitals of other districts of Sindh, officials admitted. The situation had arisen in the wake of Sindh health department's policy of cancelling posting orders of those employees who were working either on deputation or on detailment basis. However, health department's senior officials said that the policy of not retaining officials and doctors on deputation or on detailment in other than their parent organizations was being implemented in the light of superior judiciary's order. Meanwhile, an official of the department said: "The policy will be hugely positive if the vacancies are filled in time, otherwise health facilities in under-staffed health facilities will continue to be deteriorated." Citing the example of Malir Town where three health facilities have been virtually closed because of shortage of staff, sources claimed that at least 40 staff members of different categories, including doctors and paramedics, have been relieved from these health facilities. The three closed facilities are: Khokhrapar Maternity Home, Adam Hingora's government dispensary and Jaffer-i-Tayyar's government dispensary. An official of Malir Town said: "Although we are trying hard to run these health facilities through some makeshift arrangement, it was very difficult to maintain the health delivery system." "The equal and need-based distribution of manpower and punishment to ghost employees could bring about improvement in the whole system, but it is unfortunately not happening due to some political expediency," an official deplored. Shortage of staff affecting health delivery system K DT Pakistan Report PUBLIC SECTOR HOSPITALS DT Pakistan Report I

Dental Tribune Pakistan Edition No. 4, 2015

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