Govt shoots down idea to hike fees of medical colleges

Ministry yet to examine summary, will forward to law division and cabinet for final approval

ISLAMABAD: The government has rejected the idea of increasing the fees of private medical colleges, at least for now.

The Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination has sent back a proposal for amending the admission regulations of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) which seek to raise the fees of private medical colleges.

The ministry has yet to examine the summary properly and would send the document back after meeting some procedural formalities, officials said. It was unlikely that the summary would suggest anything in terms of a fee hike, they said, explaining that the regulator of medical education would make changes only after consulting with all the stakeholders.

According to officials, the summary would be forwarded to the law division and cabinet for final approval after the endorsement of the health ministry and they may recommend changes into the regulations – if any.

If approved and vetted by the law ministry and the cabinet, the amended rules would come into force from next year, officials say.

The council, in its meeting held last week, had recommended increasing the annual fees of medical college from Rs642,000 to Rs800,000.

The council had argued that keeping in mind annual inflation and the fact that the tuition fees for private medical and dental colleges have not been increased for several years, the raise has been agreed for new admissions.

PMDC also agreed that fee hikes will be capped at seven per cent per annum for the next five years.

The new regulations also recommend that any college violating the admissions regulations, demanding donations or demanding gratifications from students and parents shall be penalised for not less than Rs20 million and deduction of 10 per cent seat allocation for next the five years.

All provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory and Azad Jammu and Kashmir will hold a single uniform entry test each for admission into medical and dental colleges falling within their jurisdiction, the proposed regulations say.

This entry test will be held under the aegis of a nominated public sector university as decided by the Department of Health of each province and, in case of Islamabad by the ministry of NHSR&C.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2017.