Military run medical college to have no civilian oversight

Senate body passes NUMS Bill amidst controversy; PPP senator warns against shrinking of civilian space

The Senate Defence Committee on Monday passed the National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) Bill giving sweeping powers to the medical university in setting standards in medical education bypassing the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the federal watch dog and regulatory body of medical education throughout the country.

The meeting was presided over by Chairman Mushahid Hussain and was attended by senators Farhatullah Babar, Maulana Ataur Rehman, General (r) Abdul Qayyum, Gen ((r) Salahuddin Tirmizi and Brig (r) John Kenneth Williams. Secretary defence, deputy surgeon general of the army and other senior officers of Defence Ministry and proposed NUMS also attended the meeting.

Objecting to the bill in its present form, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar suggested that a clause be added making it mandatory for NUMS to follow the PMDC by-laws regarding minimum standards of courses and minimum qualifications and experience required for medical professors and teachers. However, the proposal was not accepted on the ground that the amendment would have to be referred back to the National Assembly and delay passage of the Bill.

“It is unprecedented and illegal to allow NUMS to act as regulator of medical education in some medical institutions just because those institutions are run by the military,” Babar said, adding that the job of regulator is that of the PMDC and not that of a military-run university NUMS.

He said that the PMDC Ordinance of 1962 amended from time to time, including the latest amendment last month was a federal law meant to regulate all aspects of medical education throughout the country and could not be bypassed. NUMS may become a world class medical university but it cannot be allowed to become its own regulator just because it is run and operated by the army, he said. He said that if PMDC had failed in performing its functions properly and was subject to criticism it did not mean that its work should be entrusted to the military. Let the PMDC be reformed instead of taking over its functions.

He said that the proposed law gave to the University’s Academic Council all powers to regulate medical education independently and without reference to the overarching PMDC law or even its representative being on the Academic Council.

To resolve the issue Farhatullah Babar proposed three options. One, the NUMS Bill should be amended so as to recognize and give primacy to the regulatory role of PMDC in matters of regulating quality of education and qualifications for appointments in the new university in accordance with the PMDC law. The second option he said is if the army did not like to submit to a civilian regulatory body, then it should seek NOC from the PMDC for abdicating its role and responsibility in favor of NUMS.

Third, he said even if it was not acceptable and civilian oversight was anathema to the military-run institution then the Committee may pass the bill today and he will record his note of dissent.

Ataur Rehman said that he agreed with the observations of Senator Farhatullah Babar. However, if Farhatullah Babar’s objections could not stop the adoption of the bill, how could he stop it, he said.