Although relations between the PTI government and the Young Doctor’s Association (YDA) have remained mostly cordial, the recent controversy and resulting protests over the introduction of the National Licensing Examination (NLE) has pushed the two into a clash. Peaceful protesters were provoked to storm the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) building yesterday after the Islamabad Capital Police thrashed, baton-charged and arrested several doctors. That both the PMC management and Health Ministry officials ignored the invitation from the YDA for negotiations over the matter is another example of the government unwilling to find common ground and solution to a complicated problem, leading to confrontation and the use of force to quell legitimate protests. Ironically, this is the same excessive aggression with which the PMDC (Pakistan Medical and Dental Commission) was abruptly dissolved within a day, its building vacated, taken over and locked shut within to establish the PMC, the body that is pushing for the NLE. The NLE is essentially an additional exit exam for doctors who have already cleared the theoretical portion of their assessment and are ready to start their professional careers as medical practitioners. YDA’s contention is understandable to the extent that because the exam takes place only twice a year and without passing it a candidate cannot start the mandatory house job, so a number of aspiring doctors will be stuck preparing for a re-sit without a job, which is essentially a waste of their time. The rate of failure is likely to be high because even if a candidate secures the required merit of 70 percent, if he or she fails any one of the three clinical scenarios, it will not be considered as a pass.
The PMC considers the NLE as another filter to avoid any slippages and ensure that the best and most educationally sound talent makes it through the system. This is a legitimate endeavour as well. Both sides therefore have concerns that need to be resolved through meaningful dialogue, not violence. The PMC can perhaps ease off on the limited frequency of the exam. The US MLE, also a licensing exam, can be taken thrice in 12 months. Unless the PMC engages with the YDA and its various chapters across the country who are also calling for strikes, the medical system will feel the brunt and as usual, it will be the patients who suffer the most. With a horrendously low 1:1300 doctor to patient ratio, the country ill-affords less doctors coming through the system and the ones who are practising to be out on the streets protesting.
