Country’s first male-only medical college opens doors in Jamshoro

KARACHI: The country's first male-only medical college is set to open its doors in Jamshoro. A notification issued by the Ministry of Health in Islamabad a few days back, confirms that Bilawal Bhutto Medical College (BBMC) will be allowed 100 seats for MBBS. Permission to establish the college had been granted by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council's (PMDC) previous governing body.

The college is being allowed to immediately begin inducting its first batch of students. The college will be affiliated with the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro, while the 500-bed TB hospital being run by the Sindh government has been named as its affiliated teaching hospital.

Professor Tariq Rafi, the VC of Jinnah Sindh Medical University, told The Express Tribune that a request for the establishment of BBMC was received by a PMDC committee, which has since been dissolved. The committee had approved the establishment of the college, and two days ago, the ministry of health had released a notification for the establishment of the college. An advertisement was also published last week for admissions in the MBBS programme. He said that 800 candidates have applied for the 100 available seats.

Professor Rafi informed that admissions will be given according to Sindh's central admission policy to successful candidates from the 2018 central entry test. The candidates have been asked to submit their entry test admit cards along with their applications.

He said that there is a severe shortage of doctors in the country because 87 per cent of students who obtain admissions in medical colleges on open merit are women. Of the women who are admitted, more than 50 per cent either drop out for various reasons or choose not to practice after completing their degrees.

He said that as of now, there are 172,000 doctors registered with the PMDC, while the population of the country stands at 220 million. The number of doctors compared to the population is very low. In view of this emerging situation, the first boys' medical college has been founded. He said that the process of admission will be completed by the end of this month and the academic session will commence next month.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2019.