The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) is to inspect facilities at four new medical colleges in the coming days so they can be registered before the MBBS part 1 exams, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Officials in the council and the Health Department said the inspections would begin with Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College in Sialkot on September 12 followed by the colleges in Gujranwala, Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan.
The PMDC had been at odds with the government over the status of 950 medical students – 100 each in the four new colleges and 550 admitted to new seats in other colleges – stating they could not be registered as the new seats were added without the council’s approval. They said that differences between the government and PMDC had been settled at a recent meeting. They said that the inspections would be completed before the MBBS Part 1 exams so that the students admitted last year don’t lose a year
The PMDC had objected that the new colleges didn’t meet regulations as they were running out of rented buildings.
“There were a few reservations about the new colleges but these have now been resolved,” said the Health Department official. “Buildings for all four colleges are under construction and district headquarters hospitals are very much functional in the four districts.”
He said he expected the 550 seats in other colleges to also be approved as the hospitals attached to the colleges had sufficient capacity and complied with PMDC regulations.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2011.
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