Lack of facilities: Students demand PMDC registration

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

Scores of students of the Dera Ghazi Khan Medical College set up a protest camp in front of the college on Wednesday to protest against the provincial government. They said that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council had refused to register their college because it did not fulfil certain requirements and they would not be able to get house jobs after graduation.

Several members of the Young Doctors’ Association joined the students at the protest camp. They held up banners and placards, sang national songs and shouted slogans against the government. The PMDC had refused to register the college because it lacked adequate faculty and education facilities.

The protesters said that the outgoing batch had three days till graduation. “If the college doesn’t get registered, they will not be eligible for house jobs.”

The protesters said that their college had posted better results than some other medical colleges in south Punjab. They said that it provided educational facilities to aspiring doctors from Balochistan and Skardu as well as the tribal belt.

They demanded that the prime minister, the chief minister and the governor take notice of the situation and issue PMDC directions to register their college.

The Dera Ghazi Khan Medical College was one of four medical schools the provincial government had set up in 2010. The other three were in Gujranwala, Sialkot and Sahiwal. The other three colleges have been registered by the PMDC. Students said nearly 600 students would be affected by the PMDC’s decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2016.