ISLAMABAD: In an unprecedented move, Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Abdul Qadir Patel has instructed the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and other stakeholders to put plans in place to provide juvenile detainees the chance to pursue careers as physicians, nurses, and students of allied health sciences.
He said that minors detained in prisons across the nation ought to have been given the opportunity to apply for admission to nursing schools, allied health sciences, and medical institutions for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degrees.
In an interview with Dawn, Sajid Shah, a spokesman for the NHS ministry, stated: “All public sector universities will be made to ensure that jail children and convicts would be eligible to pass the admission examinations of medical and dentistry institutions and attend lessons.”
Mr. Shah said that the health minister had given the go-ahead for measures to be done to allow bright, capable, and motivated students the chance to enter the health profession.
He said, “Another reason for the direction is that the ministry wants to make sure that inmates would become useful members of society and play their role in the growth of the country.
When asked how the PMC and universities would conduct admissions examinations for inmates and how they would attend classes that couldn’t be offered online, Mr. Shah responded that admissions of such kids may begin as early as 2023.
He noted that there was plenty of time for universities and the PMC to think about the issue and develop ideas on how to make it feasible for inmates to enroll in colleges.
“The notion has been launched with a positive and good aim, and I am convinced that we will find a way to make the inmates a productive and valuable part of the community,” he added.
In the meanwhile, Mr. Patel declared in a statement that the PPP’s goal was to give all residents equal chances.
No society can advance without education, and we want to live up to the aspirations of the people, he added.
