Uncertain future: Dentistry students demand registration of college

Bibi Aseefa Dental College yet to be registered by PMDC

KARACHI: Bibi Aseefa Dental College, Larkana (BADC) students showed up en masse outside CM House in Karachi on Friday to demand registration of their programme.

The students took to the streets following Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC)'s refusal to register the institute.

Since its establishment in 2012, BADC has been running without being registered with the PMDC, due to which 250 students studying at the college are facing an uncertain future now.

Students belonging to ten districts across the province, holding placards in their hands, asked the government to play its role in order to save their future.

"It has been almost five years and the government has not made any effort to register our programme," said one of the protesters, adding that the Sindh government has turned a blind eye towards their problems.

"We are around 250 students who have completed our degrees but the medical body has refused to register us. Where should we go now?" remarked a protester Khadim Abro, who belongs to Sukkur. He claimed that no official from the Sindh government has approached them to assure them that their college will be registered.

Another student, Rukhsana Shaikh, who belongs to Larkana, said "We don't care whether the government registers our college. We request the relevant authorities to provide us degrees of any other registered colleges instead," she remarked.

The students, belonging to the first batch of the evening programme, held the Sindh government responsible for delaying the process. "Instead of giving relief to us, the government has put us through mental agony," said one of the students.

During the protest, the police threatened the students and attempted to disperse them from CM House. Police suggested to them to protest in front of the Karachi Press Club after which the students went there and protested.

Pakistan Medical Association office-bearers have already dissociated themselves from the college and announced that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University had not consulted PMDC before initiating it.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.