PMDC makes fire safety training mandatory for house officers

The Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) has made comprehensive fire safety education and training mandatory for house officers in all medical and dental colleges. This decision follows a review of existing fire safety protocols and aims to strengthen preparedness and protect patients, students, doctors, and healthcare staff.

The training will cover fire prevention, emergency drills, patient safety, and evacuation procedures. According to Dawn, this decision was prompted by an incident at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences on August 26, in which 14 newborn babies died in a fire.

The PMDC president, Prof Dr Rizwan Taj, stated that the mandatory programme will be incorporated into house officers' jobs, with dedicated training hours allocated to fire safety awareness and emergency preparedness. All medical colleges and teaching hospitals will be required to ensure vigorous fire safety arrangements and effective emergency preparedness.

Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Times, Dawn - Pakistan, ProPakistani — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.