Medical education: Court suspends PMDC admission regulations

New regulations were not approved by the federal cabinet making the ordinance unlawful

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has suspended the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s admission regulations for 2016 and admitted for regular hearing multiple identical petitions of students from private medical and dental colleges.

The admissions made by the colleges will remain intact, said Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, who was one of the petitioners’ counsel. Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza issued notices to the federal government and other respondents for February 16, 2017.

Barrister Ali contended the new regulations were not approved by the federal cabinet and the constitution of the council under 2015 ordinance was also unlawful. He said the matter should be taken up by the Council of Common Interest (CII) since Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh had refused to implement the regulations.

PMDC counsel Noshab A Khan argued the new regulations were made to ensure principles of morality and transparency.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2016.