Fee to be slashed?: Shaikh Zayed Medical College to come under UHS

Health officials say the handing over would result in lower fees. Increase in number of seats.

LAHORE:

The Shaikh Zayed Medical and Dental College (SZMDC) will soon be disaffiliated from the Punjab University and brought under the University of Health Sciences (UHS).

The move comes after the federal government handed over the Shaikh Zayed Hospital over to the Punjab government.

Currently, Shaikh Zayed Medical and Dental College and Fatima Jinnah Medical College for Women are the only medical institutions affiliated with the Punjab University. King Edward Medical University (KEMU) is another exception. It is an autonomous medical university. All other medical colleges in the Punjab are affiliated with the UHS.

Health Department officials told The Express Tribune that the necessary paper work is being completed to expedite the handing over. The transfer will bring about some changes, the biggest one perhaps being a reduction in fees.

An official familiar with the developments told The Tribune that the fee might come to down to Rs18,000 per year, which is what the public medical colleges in the Punjab currently charge. Shaikh Zayed Medical College students are currently paying around Rs 500,000 annually.

“The chief minister been very clear on this. [Once handed over] the fee at SZMDC will be brought in line with the fee charged at other public medical colleges,” another top official at the Health Department said.

The officials, however, said that the reduced fee will apply to students who enroll at the college after its affiliation with the UHS comes through. “We won’t be able to offer a refund to students who have already paid or cut the fee for those students who have already been admitted by the federal government,” he said.

The seats available at the college for 2013 to 2014 will be advertised through a UHS prospectus.

According to the officials the admissions quota for federal government employees at the medical college will be abolished in the next session. The number of seats could also be increased from 100 to 150, they said.

Muhammad Atif, the UHS spokesperson, when asked about the reduction in fee said that the handing over would lead to changes.

“We will follow the instructions the government gives us,” he said.

Shaikh Zayed Medical and Dental College principal Dr Zafar Iqbal said that all matters pertaining to the fee structure would be finalised after discussions. “We have given a presentation to the Punjab government detailing our facilities. A meeting will [soon] be held to take some decisions,” Dr Iqbal said.  

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2012.