Zubair Qureshi
Passing out students of pre-medical group and their parents have demanded of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to take action against such ‘medical’ or ‘dental’ colleges that advertise admissions in MBBS or BDS classes against huge fees despite the fact they are not approved by the PMDC.
These colleges and universities not only deprive parents of their hard-earned money but also put the future of their children at stake.
By the time the pupils come to know the college they are attending is not entitled to issue them degree or conduct any kind of examination, it is too late and their future career is simply destroyed.
Recently, the PMDC cancelled/turned down request for accreditation of 10 such medical and dental colleges and declared them unlawful and stopped them from further admissions.
The council has also decided that already admitted students will be adjusted in other colleges so their studies are not disturbed,
The 10 colleges were inspected and registered during the tenure of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), which the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared illegal when it decided that the ordinance under which the PMC was established was null and void.
Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions (PAMI) General Secretary Khaqan Waheed Khawaja said that he met with the PMDC president and was assured that the inspection process would be completed within a month.
According to a public notice issued by the council, since all the actions taken and decisions made by the PMC have been declared unlawful, provisional accreditation and registration would also be considered unlawful, especially since there is no provision for such accreditation or registration.
The notice said that 10 colleges have been stopped from admitting new students and students already admitted for the 2019-20 session will be adjusted in colleges that have been accredited and recognised by the PMDC and notified by the federal government.
Two colleges in Punjab – Watim Medical College in Rawalpindi and Azra Naheed Dental College in Lahore — have been declared unlawful, as have Shifa College of Dentistry Shifa Tameer-i-Millat and the Dental Section of the Rawal Institute of Health Sciences in Islamabad.
The Fazaia RuthPfau Medical College and Dow Dental College in Karachi as well as Mohammad Dental College in Mirpurkhas and Khairpur Medical College have been declared unlawful in Sindh.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Abbottabad International Medical College and Swat Medical College have been declared unlawful.
All students already studying in these institutions will be adjusted in other colleges, said a senior official of the PMDC.
The notice, issued by PMDC Registrar retired Brig Hafizuddin Siddiqui, said: “All these colleges are directed to transfer the entire amount received from the students to the receiving colleges as prescribed by the respective admitting universities as soon as possible but not later than one month, so that they could adjust the students at the earliest.”
