The row between the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and the Sindh health department has intensified after the commission has advised Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU), Karachi, not to intervene in private medical and dental college admissions.
The ongoing row has deprived Karachi students of access to medical colleges.
Pakistan Medical Commission barred Jinnah Sindh Medical University from enrolling in private colleges. In this regard, the PMC has written a letter informing that the advertisement of admissions in private medical colleges by the university is not only a violation of the Constitution of Pakistan but also the law as laid down conclusively by the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court.
The public notice by the JSMU has unfortunately caused grave and unnecessary confusion amongst the students and, therefore, requires to be withdrawn immediately as neither the JSMU nor the admission committee or the Sindh health department is legally mandated to undertake admissions to private medical and dental colleges, the letter says.
It states that under the PMC Act 2020, admissions to the private medical colleges is to be undertaken by the colleges directly as per the criteria submitted in advance by each college, while the JSMU, the admission committee, or the Sindh health department cannot by way of a notification amend the PMC Act 2020.
“Any attempt by JSMU to undertake admissions in private medical or dental colleges will amount to not only usurping a right of the private medical and dental colleges but [will be] in direct violation of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) Act, 2020.”
