Private medical colleges want entry tests abolished, more seats

PAMI general secretary says unaccommodated students seek education in other countries

ISLAMABAD: Days after the top regulator for medical education in the country proposed a plan to unify entry tests, private medical colleges have urged that enrollment tests should be abolished while seats for students in medical colleges should be increased to reverse capital flight.

Terming themselves as core stakeholders, colleges have also demanded a seat among the 33 member board of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

This charter of demands was presented by the Pakistan Association of Medical and Dental Institutions (PAMI) General Secretary Khaqan Khawaja at a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday.

He argued that entry tests are not only unjust for students but also nurture a culture of corruption.

“A student’s studies of four years up to higher secondary level carry only 40 per cent weightage while 50 per cent marks are for the two-hour-long entry test. Due to many reasons, if the student does not perform well in the test, his or her struggle of four years goes down the drain,” Khawaja said.

Moreover, he alleged that entry test papers are leaked and sold for millions, adding that they had discovered corruption worth Rs550 million in Punjab during recent entry tests for the University of Health Sciences.

“Academies who train students for entry tests also mint money and are involved in this business,” he said, adding that poor students who cannot afford to pay the exorbitant charges lose out on seats in prestigious colleges while those who hail from strong background clinch top positions by paying for easily available papers. However, the PMDC maintains that there should be a centralised induction system so that medical colleges cannot fleece students and parents by charging entry fees per their own will.

A new proposed admission policy suggests that all provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory and Azad Jammu and Kashmir hold a single uniform entry test for admission into medical and dental colleges falling within their jurisdiction to end anomalies in admissions to some 101 private and 51 government medical and dental colleges in Pakistan.

Every year as many as 150,000 students appear for entry tests to medical colleges but only a handful of them, or around 17,470 students manage to gain admission to the public and private medical colleges.

The remaining students, despite having good marks, are unable to get a medical education because of the dearth of seats, Khawaja said.

“They [unsuccessful students] all go to other countries for medical education taking revenue with them too. If the seats are increased [locally] they can study in Pakistan’s medical colleges and go to other countries for jobs and in turn remit money to the country,” he contended.

Criticising the PMDC and parliamentarians who accuse private medical colleges of minting money and not following regulations, he said they have little understanding how medical colleges work.

“They spend billions on employees’ salaries and expensive medical machines and equipment at hospitals and it all is managed from fees,” Khawaja explained.

Private medical colleges and hospitals have been sharing the burden of the government by providing quality healthcare at minimum cost, he asserted, adding that there are only 74 government hospitals while there are 166 private hospitals.

“Government should introduce policies to facilitate and develop the sector instead of making undue regulations,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2017.