Islamabad: To enhance the standard of Pakistan’s National Licensing Exam (NLE), the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has planned to strengthen its technical relationship with leading international medical regulatory authorities.
According to a PMC spokesperson, the objective behind these efforts was to acquire a transfer of knowledge and technical expertise and international recognition of the NLE to provide further recognize the country’s medical and dental graduates.
The spokesperson said that the commission had made sincere steps to collaborate with international regulatory authorities and to ensure recognition of its standards in key countries where Pakistani doctors seek to undertake postgraduate training and gain work experience.
The PMC has formally initiated the application process for recognition by World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), he added
“The PMC will be closely liaising with WFME and other international organizations to ensure that all requirements for recognition are fully met prior to the actual assessment and inspection process of WFME,” he added.
He said that the entire process of assessment, including a physical visit by the WFME and inspection, is expected to take 12 to 15 months, which is well within the time frame of 2024 when the WFME recognition will be mandatory to enable Pakistani doctors and students to study or work abroad, specifically in compliance to the requirements of the authorities in the United States.
As part of the process, the PMC has planned extensive workshops and seminars for all medical colleges in Pakistan over the next four months to assist in capacity building and enable and prepare all medical colleges for the WFME visit and inspections.
The formal application to the WFME to initiate the process required the prior approval of the new 2022 national standards for recognition of medical and dental colleges and teaching hospitals as well as the 2022 national medical and dental curricula. These requirements have recently been approved and notified after the invaluable and immense effort, including hundreds of hours of work put in by the National Medical and Dental Academic Board over the last 15 months to formulate and structure these standards and the curriculum.
