Private medical colleges stopped from enrolling students on their own

Islamabad

While announcing new regulations, the watchdog for medical education and practice in the country, PMDC, has stopped private colleges from enrolling students in MBBS and BDS courses on their own.

From now onwards, all such admissions will be offered purely on merit based on marks obtained in entry test and previous academic performance.

Under the ‘MBBS and BDS Admissions, House Job and Internship Regulations 2016,’ which have been notified in the Gazette of Pakistan and have taken effect immediately, the PMDC will form an ‘admission board’ with the council president or a council member named by him, as chairperson.

The board having one council member from all provinces, Fata and Islamabad Capital Territory will oversee the process of admissions to MBBS and BDS courses in all provinces and regions. It will have powers to inspect any examination to ensure implementation of new regulations and any other directions of the council.

According to the regulations seen by ‘The News’, all those seeking admission to medical and dental colleges will not be registered unless they fulfil all admission criteria prescribed in the regulations.

The candidates both local and foreign must have minimum 60 per cent marks in FSc (Pre-Medical) course. The merit formula for the entry test will be based on 10 per cent matriculation marks, 40 per cent FSc course or equivalent, and 50 per cent (entry test) for local students or 50 per cent (MCAT or SAT) for foreigners.

When contacted, PMDC President Professor Shabir Lehri said public and private medical and dental colleges would offer 85 per cent admissions on open merit and 15 per cent on foreign quota and that the people could report its violation(s) to the admission board for action.

He said only the candidates with permanent foreign nationality, dual nationality or overseas Pakistani status, and having physically studied and passed secondary school certificate and higher secondary school certificate examinations or equivalent from outside Pakistan would be able to avail themselves of foreign quota seats.

The PMDC president said if any seat of foreign or self-finance quota remained vacant due to unavailability of eligible candidates or otherwise, it would stand transferred to open merit quota and the student selected would be charged fee and other charges as prescribed for open merit seat.

He added that Minister of State for the Health Regulation Saira Afzal Tarar had showed full confidence in and support for the implementation of all regulations and had clearly told the PMDC that violation against the regulation should be dealt with penal actions under permissible rules and that no political or any other influences should be considered.

PMDC Executive Committee Member Dr. Amir Hussain told ‘The News’ the regulations had come into force immediately, so no public and private medical or dental institution or its admitting or affiliating university would hold its own admission test, aptitude test or interview, and that centralised provincial or regional admission test of any province or region would be applicable all over the country.

“No private medical and dental institution or its affiliating university will advertise and process admissions in any manner or enrol students before October 31 or before the display of final merit list of public sector medical and dental institutions of the respective province and region,” he said.

According to him, every provincial and regional department dealing with admissions shall, every year by notification under intimation to the council, authorise one recognise public sector medical university as exam conducting university to conduct a single test for admission in MBBS and BDS courses in that province.

The university will announce admission process in its constituent or affiliated colleges with details of open merit and foreign quota seats simultaneously and the merit list will be displayed on the university’s official website.

Acting PMDC registrar Dr Azhar Ali Shah said candidates selected for MBBS and BDS courses at medical and dental colleges would deposit fee within seven days.

“Seats not filled by foreign graduates will be converted into local open merit ones with local student fee schedule. Each college will display its fee and online official bank account number on its website. The tuition fee for local student will be Rs642,000 per year and fee for foreign graduates $18,000 per year. No student will be charged for any sort of donation, bribe, kickback or monetary gain in any form,” he said.

Dr Azhar Ali said the admission to MBBS and BDS courses in private educational institutions would be made strictly on the basis of merit and in accordance with new regulations.

“Any admission made in violation of merit or on the basis of monetary gain in any form and reported to or noticed by the council will be considered a violation of PMDC regulations and thus, entailing penal action,” he warned.