PMDC decides to ban establishment of new medical and dental colleges

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to ban the establishment of new medical/dental colleges and increase in seats for three to five years in view of a shortage of teachers.

This was approved in a recent meeting of the PMDC Council. The meeting considered concerns about the availability of qualified faculty required to maintain educational standards due to a rapid increase in medical/dental colleges in Pakistan.

It was noted that as per the data available, the faculty required for 187 medical/dental colleges is 26,018, whereas faculty available in these colleges is 22,146. This shows a grave paucity of faculty, which has led to deterioration of educational competence, clinical training, research, and academic excellence, thus affecting patient care and public at large.

The PMDC Council has decided that a moratoriumk(for a period of 3-5 years) would be imposed on new medical/dental colleges as well as on an increase in seats (creating the same impact i.e., increased faculty requirement).

This aims to strengthen the regulatory mechanism of the PMDC to ensure institutional compliance with the standards. The News has learned that the PMDC has requested the National Health Services to intervene in this matter to safeguard Pakistan's medical education system, and the PMDC registrar has also written a formal letter in this regard.