Patients Expose Fake Doctor at PIMS Hospital

A Senate panel took notice of a fake doctor at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) who was holding a fake degree. To make matters worse, this individual had been serving on the positions of two doctors for the last six months until he was exposed by patients at the hospital.

The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, chaired by Mian Mohammad Ateeq Shaikh, also expressed serious concerns over the substandard and spurious drugs available in the market.

The committee took notice of a fake doctor at PIMS who, as pointed out by committee member Senator Kalsoom Parveen, was holding a fake degree and had been serving on the positions of two doctors for the last six months until he was exposed by patients at the hospital.

The panel asked the ministry to hold a thorough probe into the matter by involving those two doctors of PIMS for whom the fake degree holder was serving in return of some favors.

Senator Sana Baloch maintained that more than 70 percent doctors in Balochistan hold fake degrees while there is no check on the private clinics and laboratories across the country. She said that fake doctors are playing havoc with the lives of the people.

The committee expressed serious concerns over the increased prices of various medicines and asked the concerned ministry to review the drug prices policy to make them affordable for the people.

The committee asked the ministry to take steps for quality inspection of the drugs and take action against those involved in business of spurious drugs.

Referring to the substandard drugs available unchecked in the market, Senator Parveen pointed out when she was the chairperson of the same committee in 2012, a case was forwarded for laboratory check. She maintained that it was discovered that a medicine, Paracetamol, manufactured in Punjab, had only contained wheat floor.

The panel discussed at length the matter of fake clinics and dispensaries operating in the rural areas of the country, resulting in increased fatality rate, and of fake degrees of doctors in different parts of the country. It instructed the ministry to submit a detailed response in the next meeting regarding the competence of medical staff working in the federal area and the four provinces.

The committee also decided to call IGP Islamabad and chief commissioner Islamabad to the next meeting to take information regarding implementation of drug regulations in the Islamabad Capital Territory and also asked for regular verification by drug inspectors regarding all procurement and supplies.

The meeting was attended among others by Senators Kalsoom Parveen, Dr Ghous Mohammad Khan Niazi, and Sana Jamali, secretary of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination and senior officials from PMDC and DRAP.