New medical colleges: Health Dept told to stop admissions

University of Health Sciences says continuing with admissions as per government policy.

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has asked the Health Department not to admit students to four new medical colleges and new seats added in old schools as the arrangements made for them are “unsatisfactory”.

The council and the provincial government have been at odds over the 950 added seats for some time, but were expected to reach a compromise after the two sides met in September and the PMDC agreed to send inspectors to look at the facilities at the colleges.

However, in a letter to the Health Department, the PMDC said that the inspectors had found that the facilities at the new schools were unsatisfactory for medical and dental students, said sources in the council.

Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College in Sialkot was inspected first. The council also visited old medical colleges where 450 seats had been added.

The Punjab government inaugurated two 100-seat colleges in 2010 and two in January 2011 at Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan. It also added 550 seats at other medical colleges in Punjab. These have not been approved either.

The colleges started classes in rented buildings, which is against PMDC rules. “Opening of a medical and dental college in hired or rented building shall not be permitted.

The medical or dental institution shall be set up only on a plot of land owned by the institution and earmarked for that purpose as indicated. The medical or dental institution shall be a purpose-built facility separate from the hospital,” says PMDC guidelines.

The PMDC has never approved the new colleges not registered their students. If a student is not registered with the PMDC, they aren’t allowed to sit MBBS exams.

The MBBS Part 1 exam is scheduled to start on November 18. The seats were expected to be approved after the PMDC and Health Department appeared to resolve some of their differences in September.

Students were admitted to the 950 new places in October 2010 and classes started in January 2011. The validity of their education is now under question.

Asked to comment on the development, a Health Department spokesman said the University of Health Sciences was in charge of admissions and they were better qualified to comment.

A UHS spokesman said that the university made admissions on the basis of policy approved by the Punjab government.

“In the admission policy issued on August 7, 2011, we were asked to make admissions to these 950 seats and we are following the policy approved by the chief minister. We are just an executing agency. We are making admission to these 950 seats along the same lines as last year,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2011.