The newly elected apex decision making body of the defunct Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) has decided to launch digital system for nurses’ registration as to make it accessible as well as to enhance the transparency at the organisation, Daily Times has learnt reliably.
As per sources, the decision was taken at the first meeting of the new elected council of the PNC. The PNC defunct the Pakistan Nursing and Midwifery Council (PNMC) by the government as per PNMC amendment, Act 2023 a few months back. Since then, all key policy decisions have been put under burner which created many administrative issues at the department.
The Council resolved an important administrative issue at the PNMC by appointing Fouzia Mushtaq and Mushtaq Soomro as Secretary and Director Registration respectively.
President Jawad Amin Khan chaired the meeting here at PNMC office along with participation of all provincial members.
It is being expected that the prevailing administrative mess will be ended with functioning of the new council. According to an official who was part of the meeting, the council committed to work for enhancement of competency and professionalism within the nursing colleges and institutions and to make them in par with international standards.
It further reaffirmed to make adequate plans under which quality education to produce a better lot of nurses in the profession. With an unwavering focus on renovation, he said, the meeting’s agenda prominently highlighted discussions on far-reaching reforms featured to address critical concerns experienced by nurses across the country.
It also recalled that some pivotal steps in fostering an environment of innovation, collaboration, and progress within the health sector will be taken in the future.
During the course of the meeting, the President directed newly appointed Secretary Fozia Mushtaq to change the course of delivery of courier service to any reliable courier service rather than poor delivery service which is causing problems for nurses. According to the PNMC statement, the President held meetings with different relevant stakeholders and ensured them to address the grievances soon after the meeting.
It was also brought under discussion and decided to establish scope of practices which may not conflict with the SOPs set by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) but would be developed after reviewing by the committee constituted on two members from the PMDC will be included the in committee to work collectively on the SOPs to be set for the advanced nurse practitioner to oversee various global and WHO perspectives regarding Advanced Nurse Practitioner.
It was also decided to collaborate with other councils and provinces to work together for the betterment of the profession and introduce high quality standard education to nurses that may bring innovation in the health sector.
As per available information, the PNC has become dysfunctional as the council was dissolved by the government through aforementioned parliamentary act and election of new council delayed due to tussle between the top brass even after passing of months.
The move occurred when some top brass in the ministry of health including Minister Abdul Qadir Patel became annoyed at the then President PNC Dr Shazia Aslam Soomro over some stern decisions taken by her in the council. According to her, she took all measures to streamline the system in the best interest of the public. However, despite passage of over two months no new council could be established which halted many important affairs of the institutions and nurses fell in the ambit of the PNMC.