Govt urged not to apply new rules to candidates having valid pass result in Common JCAT

LAHORE : The Association of University Physicians and Surgeons (AUPS), Pakistan has urged Punjab government not to apply new Joint Centralised Admission Test (JCAT) rules retrospectively as per established law and the Constitution on the candidates who have valid pass result in Common JCAT.

"The Common JCAT is valid for three years, therefore Punjab government must allow them to apply in ongoing Punjab Residency Programme (PRP) via Central Induction Policy (CIP)," said office-bearers of AUPS including Dr Asad Noor, Dr Irfan Aslam, Dr Haseeb and others while speaking at a press conference here at Lahore Press Club on Saturday.

They said the inquiry must be held regarding low passing percentage in JCAT when same candidates were passing other national and international exams. They demanded inquiry non-notifying of the result of JCAT by King Edward Medical University (KEMU) with full details. They said the JCAT rules must be discussed and decided upon the full-quorum PGME Committee instead of Inter-University Board of Punjab as per PRP rules. The number of attempts of JCAT should be at least 4 per year with a prior notified calender. The JCAT Secretariat should be outsourced to Prometric or it should be handed over to the best performing University of Punjab statistically after a neutral inquiry over holistic performance of each medical University of Punjab. The JCAT result should be compiled in line with international SOPs of Percentile and not Percentage. The Inter-University Board was the fruit of a long lasting struggle of our Association at various national and provincial forums and we also requested for a comprehensive autonomous examining authority.

Henceforth it is requested again that current form of IUB is proving out to be a futile practice to the system and a centralized examination body must be formed, which should take single collective exam and monitoring under an ACGME accepted single unified Curriculum of all clinical and basic specialties implementing a 360 degree evaluation model of training similar to USA and Canada.

It is requested and apprised to Punjab government to take action against those Vice Chancellors, who have violated their submitted oaths at the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department (SHCMED). It is requested not to appoint individuals with established Conflict of Interest as VC as per the COI ACT of Federation and Punjab Assembly. It is further requested to conclude all inquires regarding such senior doctors pending at the SHCMED. They urged Punjab government to direct the Medical Superintendents across Punjab under the SHCMED and Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (PSHD) to pay heed to the accreditation processes of related medical universities and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) as they are agile and enthusiastic about other tasks. They demanded of the Vice Chancellor KEMU not hide the gazette of exam results. The candidates out of the purview of PRP must be stopped to rotate under the table at public sector without authorization of SHCMED as in the cases of Children's Hospital, Lahore. They were of the opinion that Punjab government must ask the faculty and employees at the SHCMED, who are serving in the PMDC in various capacities, as to why and how MS, MD and MDS are discriminated against in the PMDC decision-making in their presence.

Besides, they must also be held accountable for not delivering in their roles to complete the PMDC recognition process of allied university hospitals. They requested Punjab government to direct the Vice Chancellors to initiate and follow international recognition and national recognition in autonomous governmental setups under the federation for MS, MD, MDS with full devotion devoid of any conflict of interest. They also requested Punjab government to revive the medical faculties of the pioneer Punjab University and Islamia University, Bahawalpur. They demanded for initiating CIP for two-year diploma programmes of universities and start MD, MS in basic and hybrid basic medical sciences in PRP.

They also demanded the federal government to immediately establish n National Inter-University Medical Board / Pakistan National Board in line with the modern advances across the world under an Act of Parliament of Pakistan for which Higher Education Commission (HEC) and VCs' Consortium have already advised in writing multiple times to the government. The Punjab government, being the biggest stake holder of UNMRP, must persuade the federal government in this regard," they added.