Author Topic: Fake degree issue creeps up on medical profession  (Read 3157 times)

Offline fizza bano

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Fake degree issue creeps up on medical profession
« on: July 08, 2010, 08:20:39 AM »
Fake degree issue creeps up on medical profession
LAHORE: The issue of fake degrees has now engulfed the medical profession, as former students and doctors of the Institute of Public Health (IPH) have launched a move to verify the academic credentials of IPH Dean Dr Shakeela Zaman, Daily Times has learnt.

Upon receiving complaints from various sections, including former students and doctors working in the IPH, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has requested the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Swedish university concerned for verification of the dean’s PhD degree.

The PMA had been conveyed that the IPH dean had presented her MD degree as a PhD after getting it translated in English from Swedish. She had also allegedly gotten a promotion as a professor on the basis of the same degree.

Set up: Talking to Daily Times, PMA Punjab president Dr Ashraf Nizami said that PMA office-bearers have been receiving complaints regarding the authenticity of the degrees of many doctors and “the association has decided to set up a committee in a couple of days that will submit a report on doctors working with fake degrees”.

Terming the act a “social stigma”, he said that if more than “150 parliamentarians can present fake degrees, which is equivalent to committing fraud, doctors, engineers and bureaucrats should also put their houses in order”.

To a question on the involvement of other senior doctors in the scam, Nizami said the PMA has some information on the involvement of “high-ups”, but nothing could be said for sure before the findings of the inquiry committee are revealed. “As per an estimate, all foreign degree holders have doubtful credentials... even today [Wednesday] the PMDC has cancelled the licences of some doctors over the same issue,” he added.

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has also decided to launch an operation against fake degree holders registered over a decade. The move has been taken after PMDC officials were found involved in issuing fake degrees to doctors.

YDA General Secretary Dr Salman Kazmi said that most of the fake doctors were working in health establishments in the periphery, posing life threat to millions of people. He said the government should take action against all those doctors found guilty. “Doctors [with fake degrees and sitting] on senior positions should show some moral courage and step down... they should stop using foreign diplomas as doctorates,” Kazmi added.Daily times