PMC to be responsible for any dire consequences, say foreign medical graduates

• Pakistan Medical Commission to be responsible for dire consequences, foreign medical graduates said in a letter to IGP.
• Foreign medical graduates are protesting outside PMC's office for the last few days against a decision to blacklist various colleges abroad.
• "Kindly take serious notice to save the lives & future of Pakistani Foreign Medical Graduates," they requested.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) would be responsible for any dire consequences, foreign medical graduates have warned in a letter to the federal capital's top cop.

Foreign medical graduates have been protesting outside the PMC office for the last few days against the body's decision to blacklist various colleges abroad. They had held a demonstration in January 2021 as well.

“The future of foreign qualified medical students is at stake because of the blind decisions being made by the authority," they complained.

Read more: Distressed foreign medical graduates protest outside PMC over blacklisting of universities

Today, however, they penned a letter to the inspector-general of police (IGP), in which they said the PMC "is not issuing license" and that they have been facing "discrimination and cruelty"; therefore, they have been staging a protest "peacefully".

"Pakistani Foreign Medical Graduates submitted their documents according to the Act 2020 which is brought by the Federal Government of Pakistan based on uniform policy.

"According to the permission & announcement of PMC, Pakistani Foreign Medical Graduates submitted their documents for P-RMP (License), but PMC is not issuing License. Furthermore already half of the B List Pakistani Foreign Medical Graduates received their License," they wrote in the letter.

Also read: Foreign medical graduates protest PMC's blacklisting of universities in Islamabad

The Pakistani foreign medical graduates said there could be dire consequences because "there is no response from PMC", saying: "If any of Pakistani Foreign Medical Doctor get hurt and go for suicide, PMC will be responsible for such events.

"Kindly take serious notice to save the lives & future of Pakistani Foreign Medical Graduates," they requested.

It was shared on Twitter by Dr Alia Haider, a socialist-feminist activist, part of the Islamabad-based Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement (HKM). The HKM said the government’s decision to revoke medical licenses "during a heath emergency is an issue of life or death".

"Doctors are needed more than ever, yet are forced to remain unemployed," they wrote.

In November last year, the PMC had issued a list of foreign undergraduate colleges that it recognises — a decision that faced protests from students who voiced their worries because they had already paid hefty tuition fees to the blacklisted universities.