Medical colleges minting money

Admission

PMDC president says they have approved draft of admission policy, which will be implemented after government approval; secretary says department will devise strategy to stop

exploitation; UHS spokesman says it has no role in admissions

LAHORE

Private medical and dental colleges in Punjab are making hay in admissions for medical and dental qualifications illegally at the expense of aspirants in the absence of any checks and balances by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), University of Health Sciences (UHS) and the Government of the Punjab at large.

The private medical colleges are already earning money through illegal sale of admission forms/prospectuses before cut-off date i.e. October 28 to start their admission process. It will be followed by admissions on the basis of candidates’ ability to pay in violation of merit as per usual practice every year, and finally the collection of annual donations from students during the entire five-year duration of the MBBS/BDS course. On the other hand, PMDC, supreme governing body of medical and dental qualifications in Pakistan, has turned its back on the grievances of students and their parents and never bothered to conduct any inspection or raids to put an end to this exploitation of the helpless candidates and their families.

As UHS is set to display final merit list for admissions to public sector medical/dental institutions on October 28, the private medical colleges have already started the admission process to fleece the students through sale of prospectuses, admission forms, etc., which is prohibited under rules and regulations in this regard.

The private medical/dental colleges have deceived the authorities by not advertising the admission schedule in the newspapers while continuing their illegal business openly without any check.

“The private medical colleges in Lahore are selling admission forms at rates varying from Rs3,000 to Rs6,000,” complained many parents of students, lamenting that the students, at this stage, are compelled to buy at least four admission forms for both MBBS/BDS courses from different colleges, which is putting an extra burden of over Rs20,000. However, it is bringing a lot of revenue to owners of these private medical colleges. “Only perhaps Sharif Medical and Dental College, Raiwind, has not violated the law of starting admission process before cut-off date, while fee structure was also quite rational,” said a candidate’s relative.

Furthermore, it is learnt, the private medical colleges are exempted from following merit order based on entrance test conducted by the UHS as these colleges are awarding admissions on the basis of candidates’ paying capacity under various heads of fees and donations rather than on the basis of candidates’ overall marks percentage obtained after the entrance test. “The private medical colleges prefer a rich student with, say, 65 percent marks over a candidate with 80 percent marks with less means to pay,” complained various candidates and their parents, who urged Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of this blatant violation of merit and financial exploitation of the students.

The official sources and candidates have claimed that the private medical colleges are charging donations up to Rs0.5 to 1 million each year in addition to annual fees and other charges. “One private medical college in Lahore is collecting donation of up to Rs5 million each year and end up generating revenue of Rs25 million through the duration of the course from students in addition to fees and other charges during the five year course,” claimed a senior government official, and according to him, that’s because the PMDC was entirely indifferent to this act of swindling on life-time savings of the people.

The PMDC has failed to formulate a centralised merit policy for private medical/dental colleges to make it binding upon them to make admissions on the basis of merit order of the entrance test for public sector medical/dental institutions conducted by the UHS.

This merit-based policy has, however, been adopted by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad, which is conducting a uniform entrance test for admissions to affiliated public and private medical/dental colleges that intends to eliminate the illegal practices of selling admission forms/prospectuses, seeking financial donations in addition to fees and other charges and violating the merit order on the basis of candidates’ ability to pay donations rather than marks percentage. “The university will provide a list of candidates to its one public and nine private affiliated medical colleges according to available number of seats in each college on the basis of merit order to be prepared after the unified entrance test conducted under SZABMU,” said Prof Dr Javed Akram, Vice-Chancellor SZABMU, Islamabad, while talking to The News.

A senior official of Punjab Health Department observed that PMDC’s regulations titled “Conditions for Admissions”, which were prepared under the Dr Asim Hussain’s regime when private mafia was dominating, also needed to be revised to organise the admissions in private sector more effectively. For example, he informed, there were serious flaws in existing rules as A Level candidates or even local FSc students were accommodated in the 15 percent quota reserved exclusively for foreigners. Besides, he pointed out that PMDC gave 75 percent weightage to provincial entrance test and reserved 25 percent weightage for aptitude test, which raised serious questions of transparency in admissions.

When contacted, Muhammad Atif, a senior official/spokesman of UHS, informed that UHS had no role in conducting admissions for its affiliated private medical/dental colleges as the university was responsible for revision of curriculum, holding examinations and awarding degrees to students registered with the university. “The PMDC is responsible to oversee the process of admissions in private medical colleges,” he said, adding that any check on this gross financial exploitation of students and their parents especially during admission season and entire course duration was conspicuously missing that led to this business going on unhindered in private medical colleges for years and years now.

Another reason for this unending practice, he said, was lack of motivation among candidates to register their complaints at all relevant fora or even contest it in courts for rationalisation of the admissions on merit and fee structures/donations in private medical colleges. “The UHS hardly received a few complaints in the past several years against irrational fee structures and donations in private medical colleges,” he added.

He was of the view that the government needed to take solid measures to organise admissions and fee structures/donations in private medical colleges to put an end to violation of merit and financial exploitation of candidates. The private medical colleges, he said, were always getting relief from courts in the name of free economy. “If private medical colleges have reservations on government institutions overseeing their admissions, the government can always engage any reputed third party such as Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) to supervise the process of admissions and fee structure of the private medical colleges,” he suggested.

Talking to The News, PMDC President Prof Dr Shabbir Ahmad Lehri said that PMDC, in its recent Council meeting, approved the draft of central admission policy for both public and private medical colleges, which would be implemented across Pakistan as soon as government notified in the gazette in this regard. However, he seemed content with claim of preparation of a draft of central admission policy instead of taking practical measures to stop financial exploitation of candidates and their families.

Actually, he had no knowledge of financial exploitation of students currently going on unabated, instead of fulfilling the people’s expectations as requirement of his official position to act in public interest and save the candidates from financial exploitation. “Just let us know if any private medical college is making money through illegal means from candidates, we will launch a crackdown on them. We will not let them sell admission forms before cut-off date. We will not let them collect donations even in pennies from students. We will make them follow the centralised merit policy in the admissions,” he boasted without much substance.

To a question about flaws in rules under “Conditions for Admissions”, he said that PMDC had also addressed this issue and defined foreigners and overseas Pakistanis in clear terms.

When contacted, Secretary Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department, Punjab, Najam Ahmad Shah said the department would devise a strategy to stop this financial exploitation. “We would like to rationalise fee structures and donations, ensure merit-based admissions, stop sale of admission forms before cut-off date and end financial exploitation of the students not only at the time of admissions but during the entire duration of the course in private medical colleges in the province,” he added.

No representative from any private medical college was ready to give their version in this regard.