Senate panel forms subcommittee to review PMDC matters

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services on Thursday constituted a subcommittee to examine matters related to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

The meeting was chaired by Senator Amir Waliuddin Chishti and attended by Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal, the chief executive officer of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), the executive director of the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the PMDC president.

Senator Amir Chishti said he did not want any conflict of interest in the process. The newly formed subcommittee will be headed by Senator Anusha Rahman, with Senators Agha Shahzaib Durrani, Rahat Jamali and Sarmad Ali serving as members.

MDCAT schedule discussed

During the meeting, Mustafa Kamal told the committee that arrangements were being made, in line with the panel’s directions, to hold the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) as early as possible.

He said educational boards had separate examination calendars, adding that final FSc examinations would end on July 20 and the MDCAT would be conducted on Aug 16.

The minister also said the government wanted to eliminate the "MDCAT preparation mafia" and put in place a transparent examination system.

Concern over medicine prices

Committee members also took up the issue of rising medicine prices and criticised the steep increase reported across the country.

Officials briefing the committee said medicine prices had been deregulated during the caretaker government in 2024, allowing pharmaceutical companies to set prices independently. They further informed the panel that the prices of a range of medicines had gone up by as much as 100 percent over the past two years.

According to the officials, DRAP under the existing law can regulate prices only for essential life-saving medicines. Mustafa Kamal told the committee that the health ministry had no direct role in increasing or reducing medicine prices.

The committee directed the DRAP chief to develop a clear mechanism for medicine pricing. It also decided to call officials of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to its next meeting.

Members of the committee observed that the pharmaceutical sector appeared to be among the most profitable businesses in Pakistan and said it was unacceptable to leave medicine pricing entirely to pharmaceutical companies. They stressed the need for a review of the current legal framework.

DRAP briefing on sector size

During the briefing, DRAP chief Dr Obaidullah Malik informed the committee that 659 pharmaceutical companies were currently operating in Pakistan, while 394 institutions were importing medicines and vaccines from abroad.

The meeting was attended by Senators Syed Masroor, Sarmad Ali, Rahat Jamali, Samina Mumtaz Zehri, Agha Shahzaib Durrani, Nasir Mehmood Butt and Anusha Rahman, who joined through video link.