Level of medical education in Pakistan

Abstract

Being a noble profession, people put faith in medical personals. For that reason, medical doctors should uphold this belief. It can only be done by achieving excellence in their profession. Level of medical education plays a very important role in achieving this distinction in their field. Therefore, highest quality medical education should be imparted to medical students.1 Only then, it will be possible for them to deliver quality health care facilities to masses.2
The number of doctors in the country, when compared to total population, is quite low. There is roughly a doctor for about 1500 people. This number is alarming. It means that many people don’t have access to medical doctor and hence, medical treatment. The number of medical colleges has increased in recent years. There are about 132 in Pakistan to date. There are 52 medical and dental colleges in public sector and 82 medical and dental colleges in private sector in Pakistan.3,4 But, this number is not sufficient enough to cater the needs of rapidly increasing Pakistani population. It is the need of time that more medical and dental colleges should be opened to increase the number of medical and dental graduates who can serve the humanity subsequently. But, care should be taken to regulate these institutes to ensure that the level and quality of medical education imparted should be of highest standards. This will ensure that our doctors will be of best professional competence and possess the required skills so that they can compete both nationally and internationally. Strict quality control measures as well as regular inspections should be carried out to ensure that the medical and dental colleges will be following the given guidelines. Similarly, there is a need to establish and enforce strict policy guidelines for accreditation standards. This will help improve level of medical education in Pakistan. It will also ensure that medical graduates will receive good education and public will get highest standards of healthcare services from well-educated doctors.