PMDC asks medical colleges to follow admission quota

Vacant seats of foreign or self-financed candidates will be transferred to open merit quota

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has asked all public and private medical institutions to follow 85% open merit seats and 15% foreign quota seats policy at time of new admissions.

According to an official of PMDC, under its new admission policy for medical and dental colleges, if any seat of foreign or self-finance quota remains vacant due to unavailability of eligible candidates or otherwise, it will be transferred to open merit quota and the student will be charged fee and charges prescribed for open merit seat.

He said that no candidate will be eligible for foreign quota seats in public and private medical and dental institutions unless he or she holds a permanent foreign nationality or dual nationality or overseas Pakistani status and who has physically studied and passed secondary school certificate (SSC) and HSSC passing 12th grade examination or equivalent from outside Pakistan.

He said that institutions will announce admission process in its constituent or affiliated colleges with details of open merit and foreign quota seats simultaneously and the merit list will be displayed on university official website.

The official said selected candidates for medical and dental colleges will submit fee within seven days. Seats not filled by foreign graduates will be converted into local open merit seats with local student fee schedule.

Similarly, each college will display its fee and online official bank account number on its website.

Tuition fee for local student will be Rs642,000 per year and fee for foreign graduates will be $18,000 per year. No student will be charged for any sort of donation, bribe, kick back or monetary gain in any form.

The PMDC official said that no private medical and dental institution or its affiliating university will advertise, process admissions in any manner or admit students before October 31 or before the display of final merit list of public-sector medical and dental institutions of respective province and region.

Every provincial, regional department dealing with admissions will, every year by notification under intimation to the council, authorise one recognised public sector medical university as exam conducting university to conduct a single test for admission in MBBS and BDS courses in that province.

He said that the admission to MBBS and BDS course in a medical and dental institution will be made strictly on the basis of merit and in accordance with regulations and any admission made in violation of merit or on the basis of monetary gain in any form and reported to or noticed by the council will be considered a violation of these regulations.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2017.