Four-member committee to review new colleges

PMDC plans to approach chief justice to help with litigation on regulations

ISLAMABAD: The top regulator of medical education in the country has constituted a four-member review committee which would evaluate the standards of 11 private medical colleges which have been recommended for registration.

The committee was formed during a meeting of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on Saturday.



State Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar made a rare appearance at the council meeting to decide on several important cases pertaining to medical and dental education and policy implementation.

The minister discussed the matter of registering new medical and dental colleges. The colleges had been recommended by the council and their cases have now been forwarded to the ministry for final clearance. However, the matter is still pending with the ministry as doubts of favouritism were cast on some of the applications.

Tarar said that the federal government had no intention of interfering in the statutory powers of PMDC’s apex body, rather, she said she intended to work with the body to ensure good quality education in the country.



The council members constituted a four-member evaluation committee comprising Dr Sania Nishtar, Professor Dr Abdul Bari, Surgeon General Asif Sukhaira, Prof Dr Aijaz Hassan.

The committee will prepare terms of reference for the inspection process, evaluating and reviewing all the inspection reports of new medical and dental colleges and provide their recommendations to the health ministry.

The ministry has also formed a scrutiny committee to review complaints received against the registration of these colleges.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2017.