Private colleges accept PM&DC fee structure

LAHORE :Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions (PAMI) has agreed to accept Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PM&DC) newly-approved fee structure with a heavy heart in the backdrop of the Punjab government’s claim of spending Rs 2.1 million on each student per year in the public sector institutions. 

“We are ready to enforce new fee structure of Rs 800,000 per annum, recently approved by the PM&DC in response to PAMI’s demand of Rs 900,000 per year with 7 per cent annual increase, whereas the Punjab government’s statement, submitted through its secretary in Lahore High Court, revealed expenditure of Rs 2,100,000 on each student every year excluding capital cost of infrastructure in public sector,” said PAMI’s president Dr Tariq Sohail, General Secretary Khaqan Waheed Khawaja along with other office-bearers Dr Ali Farhan, Dr Ghazanfar Ali and Dr Riaz Janjua while addressing a press conference after Association’s General Council Meeting held in a local hotel on Sunday.

The PAMI office-bearers, however, said they were completely in agreement with the PM&DC that donations and underhand transactions must be stopped. “We are ready to join hands with PM&DC to curb this practice,” they announced.

In spite of harsh PM&DC regulations, they said, the private sector came forward to share the government’s burden. Today, there are 62 medical colleges with 6,750 seats for medical students in the private sector as compared to 39 medical institutions with 7,205 seats in the public sector. With 184 private hospitals in the country, the private sector offers 31,641 beds free of cost to the patients in the private teaching hospitals, whereas there are 43,072 beds available for patients in the public sector. For dental education, there are 32 dental colleges with 1,915 seats available for BDS students in the private sector as against 11 dental institutions in public sector with 650 seats available for the dental students. “The private sector in Pakistan has come a long way in the last four decades,” they said, adding that they provided every support to the Punjab government during the recent strike of Young Doctors Association (YDA) in Punjab.

In response to a question on violation of merit list as a result of entry test during admissions, they observed that PAMI followed the PM&DC’s benchmark of 60 per cent marks or above while doing admissions. “The private institutions award admissions to those candidates with a capacity to pay while remain within the framework,” they said, adding that private institutions should be free to admit eligible students without the interference of the PM&DC or any other institution.

To question regarding entry test, PAMI President Dr Tariq Sohail backed entry test to judge the faculties of the candidates, but Association’s General Secretary Khaqan Waheed Khawaja alleged corruption of Rs 55 crore in a recent incident of paper leak therefore called for abolition of the entry test for admissions to medical and dental institutions.

They demanded that all discrimination between private and public institutions in matters of rules and regulations and charges must immediately be stopped.

According to PM&DC Ordinance 1962, “Whereas it is expedient to consolidate the law relating to the registration of medical practitioners and dentists and reconstitute the (Medical and Dental Council) in Pakistan in order to establish a uniform minimum standard of basic and higher qualification in medicine and dentistry.”

In order to achieve uniform standard, which is the principle task of PM&DC, PAMI calls upon the PM&DC to institute a licensing examination before full registration is given. This is urgently needed as there are now 144 medical and dental institutions and more than 30 universities imparting education according to their own style and tradition. Several different models of education are currently in vogue such as the classical system, the modular system, PBL and horizontal, vertical and spiral integration.

PAMI supports the principle of compulsory paid house jobs. However, salary structure is not in the domain of PM&DC. “If regulation of infrastructure, facilities and finances is the only concern then the very purpose of PM&DC is defeated,” they added.

The private colleges and institutions put forward this long overdue proposal without fear of competing with the graduates produced by the public sector. This would be the only method for achieving uniform minimum standard.

“PM&DC should be more concerned with the outcome of dispensation of education rather than the process by which education is dispensed,” they said, adding that PM&DC must follow the principle in letter and spirit.

Presently, they observed that the council and the executive committee are dominated by general physicians and dentists with no representation from the private sector. PAMI demands that the composition of the council is amended in a way to give representation to the private sector. PAMI recommends that the council should be comprised of 30 per cent teachers both from public and private sectors and 40 per cent representatives of the public and ex-officio members.