Audit report: PMDC allowed colleges to charge exorbitant fees

Council says it only set an upper limit for tuition fees

ISLAMABAD: An audit report has revealed that the central body for regulating medical colleges in the country allowed private institutions to charge exorbitant sums of money from students, while it registered colleges which did not fulfill the set criteria.

It also failed on occasion to implement its regulations in colleges.

The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) report for 2015-16 showed that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) had capped only tuition fees at colleges but it did not do anything about the hefty auxiliary dues which these colleges charged from their students ranging from Rs1 million to Rs1.5 million per year for local students, and over Rs1.8 million for foreign students.

In response to the charges, the PMDC told the AGP that it had allowed hikes in salaries of medical professionals and tuition fees of colleges after evaluating inflation rates, costs of demonstration consumables in classrooms while the  executive committee of the PMDC approved it.



However, the audit report states that the PMDC, being a regulatory body, was not meant to safeguard the interests of medical and dental colleges by compromising the career of poor and middle class students.

The audit further discovered that the PMDC to had collected extra revenue on account of registration fees, inspection fee, and faculty registration. The council submitted receipts of Rs299 million but collected Rs357.5 million, an excess of 19.44 per cent.

Irregular registration of colleges

The report divulged that the PMDC had recognised around a dozen private colleges across the country even though they did not have their own hospital and college buildings, a violation of the council’s rules.

The colleges recognised in this fashion included Wah Medical College in Wah Cantt, Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine in Karachi, Peshawar Medical College, Bahria Medical College in Karachi, Foundation University Medical College in Rawalpindi, Jinnah Medical College in Peshawar, Continental Medical College in Lahore, Islamabad Medical and Dental College in Rawalpindi, Al-Razi Medical College in Peshawar, Margalla College of Dentistry in Rawalpindi, Federal Medical and Dental College in Islamabad and the Yusra Medical and Dental College in Islamabad.

Further, the report points out that over five medical colleges, including Frontier Medical and Dental College in Abbottabad, Women Medical and Dental College in Abbottabad, Islamabad Medical and Dental College, Abbottabad International Medical and Dental College and the Islamic International Medical College in Rawalpindi, were registered between 1996 and 2007 despite not meeting the minimum criteria.

Moreover, the report says that the PMDC could not effectively implement its regulations to stop the Abbottabad International Medical and Dental College and Islamic International Medical and Dental College in Rawalpindi from admitting new students in May 2013.

The report recommended remedial measures to rectify deficiencies or de-recognition of these colleges in addition to taking action against officials for unjustified hike in fees.

Rebuttal

A spokesperson for the PMDC, however, maintained that while she could not say anything about the conduct of the council in the past, but the current management was strictly following the set criteria.

Regarding the fee hike, she said the council, being a regulatory body, only set an upper limit for tuition fees.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2016.