Three-year ban on new medical colleges

Irfan Siddiqui said that the inclusion of political people would not change the institution's structure


Our Correspondent July 09, 2025 Less than a minute read

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ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) informed the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services on Tuesday that a three-year ban has been imposed on the registration of new medical colleges because of a shortage of teaching faculty.

The committee, which met here with Senator Aamir Waleeduddin in the chair, discussed the PMDC Amendment Bill moved by Senator Humayun Mohmand. The bill proposed to include parliamentarians in the PMDC board. However, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal opposed the proposal.

PMDC President Dr Rizwan Taj said that parliamentarians had never been part of the board, but the chair corrected him, stating that a senator and a MNA used to sit on the board.

Irfan Siddiqui said that the inclusion of political people would not change the institution's structure.

Mustafa Kamal told the committee that even he, as the health minister, was not part of the PMDC board.

He maintained that Pakistan's medical professionals were still respected globally, and political involvement could undermine their reputation.

COMMENTS (1)

Abid Hussain | 1 month ago | Reply Pakistan can save and earn billions of dollars without any investment. The way is to transform every district hospital into a medical college. Only basic science teachers will be needed because all kinds of specialists are already there - thus children of our country will be able to get medical in there own country and pilgrimage of millions of dollars could be stopped. Similarly students from other countries will come to our country to get medical education and in this way we can grab a lot of foreign exchange. Apart from this the courses of medical technology physiotherapy pharmacy radiology nursing etc. in the country should be held in free for matric pass boys and girls. There is very high demand of these professionals in other countries. They will go out and increase foreign exchange reserves of the country. A commission should be formed of retired professionals from every sector in the country and they should play a role in making policies in the country.
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