Private colleges: Court summons PMDC on June 27

Petitioner seeks to make all private medical colleges in the country a party to the case.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) for June 27 on a petition alleging that private medical colleges are violating rules and regulations.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah also allowed an application of the petitioner seeking to make all private medical colleges in the country a party to the case. Earlier, only public colleges in the Punjab were named in the petition.

Petitioner Dr Salman Kazmi, who is joint secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association’s Lahore chapter, that according to the PMDC rules, a private college seeking to admit 100 students annually needed to own a plot of land of not less than three acres for the construction of the college. He said the college is also required to own a 500-bed hospital, with 150 beds. He said that private medical colleges were not meeting these requirements. He asked the court to restrain the functioning of these colleges.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.