Medical Ethics Regulation in Pakistan

Medical Ethics Regulation in Pakistan

• The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMC) is the regulatory body for medical professionals in Pakistan.
• PMC objectives include ensuring medical professional proficiency, maintaining a medical register, checking professional conduct, maintaining treatment standards, controlling medical education (curriculum and teacher qualifications), maintaining a doctor register, and supervising medical practices.

Doctor Privileges and Duties

• Doctor privileges include prescribing drugs (including dangerous ones), establishing a medical practice, holding government positions, issuing certificates (sickness, birth, death, unsound mind), performing medical-legal autopsies, using the title "Doctor", and providing expert medical court testimony.

• The doctor-patient relationship has an implied contract. Doctors owe loyalty and provide services at a fair charge.

• Doctor duties include maintaining absolute secrecy, providing emergency care, clearly informing patients about their conditions (including prognosis, controls, and warnings), avoiding misleading information, obtaining patient consent for all procedures (including operations, anesthesia, investigations, and emergencies), consulting senior doctors for complex cases, performing therapeutic abortions where legal, and consulting colleagues if another doctor has interfered with a patient's pregnancy.

Doctor-Patient Contract

• The doctor-patient contract involves the doctor treating a patient with professional skill and care.
• The doctor maintains patient confidentiality.
• Doctors can terminate treatment after reasonable notice.
• Patients are responsible for paying prescribed fees.

Confidentiality

• Confidentiality protects the doctor-patient relationship, encouraging open communication and preventing misdiagnosis/mistreatment due to incomplete information.
• Professional secrecy principles include not sharing patient information with third parties without consent (including family members) and not disclosing patient information to external parties, even if requested by public or statutory bodies.
• Exceptions to professional secrecy include notifiable diseases (mandatory reporting to the government), multi-disciplinary care teams, relatives providing care, statutory requirements (births, deaths, infectious/occupational diseases), and legal proceedings.

Privileged Communication

• Privileged communication is a statement made in good faith by a doctor to a relevant authority to protect public health.
• Examples include reporting infectious diseases, notifiable causes of death, or occupational diseases affecting employee health.

Doctor-Doctor Responsibilities

• Doctors should respect colleagues and avoid judging their practices.
• Doctors should assist colleagues by caring for their patients in their absence.

Doctor Self-Responsibilities

• Doctors should charge fair and reasonable fees.
• Doctors should maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Notifiable Diseases

• Notifiable diseases are highly infectious diseases requiring mandatory reporting to health authorities.
• The list of notifiable diseases varies by country, requiring reference to appropriate national lists and websites.

This quiz covers the roles and responsibilities of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMC) in regulating medical professionals. It focuses on the privileges and duties of doctors as outlined by the PMC, ensuring a high standard of medical practices in Pakistan. Test your knowledge on medical ethics and regulations governing healthcare professionals.