Lahore High Court Reaffirms Legality Of National Licensing Examination: PMC

Lahore High Court (LHC) has made the National Licensing Examination (NLE) applicable to all medical and dental students who graduated after 24 September 2020 irrespective of the fact they were admitted in medical or dental college before the promulgation of PMC Act 2020

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jul, 2021 ) :Lahore High Court (LHC) has made the National Licensing Examination (NLE) applicable to all medical and dental students who graduated after 24 September 2020 irrespective of the fact they were admitted in medical or dental college before the promulgation of PMC Act 2020.

According to Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) spokesman, the Lahore High Court did not accept the plea of the petitioners that they were enrolled in the medical undergraduate degree program during the tenure of defunct PMDC and the regulations existing at that time and that they are not required to undergo the test of NLE.

He added, the High Court has clarified that after the promulgation of PMC Act 2020 all matters for the grant of full license are to be governed under the said Act.

He quoted the decision of the High Court, which says "It would be unreasonable for any candidate who has passed the examination subsequent to its promulgation to allege that he or she was not governed by the provisions of the Act, 2020 which is applicable to all such students who passed the examination subsequent to the date of its promulgation".

He said that the court further observed that the question here is not regarding the prospectively or retrospectively of the PMC Act 2020 but the real issue is the applicability of the law on the date when the petitioner completed his medical education. If the law applicable on that date was the PMC Act 2020 then the petitioner will be governed under the PMC Act.