Evaluation of health professionals

Dr Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Ghaffur, Assistant Under-Secretary for Curative Medicine at the ministry, said that discussions were underway with the Group's chairman and vice-president to weigh the pros and cons of such a move.

"We have completed an internal assessment of the healthcare professionals in the country's hospitals and primary healthcare centres. But it is always desirable to have an external body like the Apollo Group that has years of experience in the medical field to assess the technical expertise and knowledge of our doctors and other hospital staff," said Dr Ghaffar.

A technical committee headed by Dr Abdul Ghaffar has already submitted its report on the hospitals and medical staff to the Minister of Health after auditing the facilities in each department and individually assessing the medical staff.

He said the ministry is mulling over the possibility of setting up a post graduate programme for local doctors in coordination with the Apollo Group.