KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), a statutory regulatory authority that maintains official register of medical practitioners, on Monday said the South Asian country would be able to meet the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) criteria by January 2024, which would otherwise bar Pakistani medical graduates from studying and working in the United States (US).

The fate of Pakistani medical graduates working in the US reportedly hangs in the balance after Pakistan failed to meet the WFME criteria by postponing a visit of the world health regulatory body in 2019.

The defunct Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) had applied for the WFME accreditation and invited WFME officials for an on-site visit to Pakistan, but the then government had dissolved the PMDC in October 2019 and established the PMC to regulate the medical profession in the South Asian country, which resulted in the cancelation of the WFME visit. Pakistan has until January 2024 to get accredited by the WFME.

On Monday, the PMC denied reports that it had failed to meet the WFME criteria, referring to the decision of US medical regulators that required foreign physicians entering the US in 2024 and onwards to be graduates of or licensed by regulatory authorities recognized by the WFME.

“Currently all Pakistani doctors and graduates are able to work and train in the USA without any hindrance,” the PMC said in a statement.

“The PMC has been working in close coordination with the US regulatory authorities, including the ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) and the Federal State Medical Boards (FSMB), ensuring that there is no hindrance in Pakistani doctors and medical graduates being recognized in the USA.”

It said the ECFMG, FSMB and the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) were supporting the PMC’s recognition too.

“The PMC has initiated the recognition process for WFME after exhaustive preparations and fulfilling all requirements over the last 18 months,” the statement read.

“WFME will [be] over the next 6 to 12 months evaluating the PMC and its recognized medical colleges to complete the recognition process, on completion of which Pakistan will be able to obtain the WFME recognition in 2023, well before the 2024 deadline.”

The WFME recognition is a phase-wise evaluation process that culminates in a physical assessment and is expected during the first half of 2023, according to the PMC.

Dr. Qaiser Sajjad, secretary-general of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) that represents medical practitioners in the country, said the WFME visit was postponed after the then government of Imran Khan took over Pakistan in 2018.

“The government dissolved the PMDC and established the PMC, a move which the court reversed and again PMC came into existence,” Dr. Sajjad told Arab News.

“Between this, a visit of the WFME got postponed, due to which Pakistan didn’t get the recognition.”

He said if Pakistan failed to meet the January 2024 deadline, then medical graduates from the country would not be able to study or practice in the US.

Dr. Sajjad, however, said he had spoken to the PMC president and hoped the issue would be resolved within due time.

“It is a false statement that the erstwhile PMDC had ever applied to the WFME and thereafter the PMC canceled any WFME visit,” the PMC statement read, alleging “a handful of vested interests” wanted to gain control of the medical regulator.

In 2020, the PMC said, major reforms were undertaken in India by way of setting up a new medical regulatory authority for many of the same reasons that existed in Pakistan.

“The Indian Medical Commission has not as yet applied for WFME recognition whereas the PMC has managed to in the same time achieve the required reforms and implementing the WFME guided standards and structures to enable the initiation of the WFME recognition process,” it added.