PMC discusses FATA quota issue

Islamabad:The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) on Friday held a special meeting on the matter of doubling Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) quota seats for public sector medical and dental colleges across the country.

The issue of doubling FATA quota seats by granting additional seats above the allocated admissions capacity in medical and dental colleges was raised several times on various platforms, including the meetings of the Senate and National Assembly standing committees.

PMC President Dr. Arshad Taqi said the commission had allowed additional seats above the allocated seats in public colleges for the 2020 intake. He, however, said admitting universities and provincial governments were categorically informed that in the 2021 intake session, these additional and all other quota seats shall be accommodated within the maximum allocated seats of the college.

The PMC president said admitting students over and above the allocated admission capacity of the college would compromise the standards and quality of students’ education. He insisted that the provincial governments must raise the capacity of their public sector colleges to accommodate the students of FATA and other quotas.

PMC Vice President Ali Raza said the federal cabinet had directed the institutes to allocate quota seats to accommodate students from FATA but there were no directions to allocate these seats over and above the allocated admissions capacity of the college. He said since public sector colleges were owned by the provincial governments, any quota for public colleges was to be issued by the provincial governments in consultation with the federal government.

In addition, as admissions to public medical and dental colleges are carried out by each provincial government through its designated university, it is, therefore, the responsibility of the provincial governments to implement any quota notified by the federal government.

Ali Raza said the PMC was not the admitting agency for admissions to public medical and dental colleges and therefore, it had no role to play in such admissions or in the enforcement of any quotas. The PMC decided that it had no objection to any FATA quota established by the federal government or implemented by the provincial governments subject to said admissions not being over and above the allocated strength of each student, with the students, admitted having fulfilled the minimum FSc and MDCAT merit benchmark for admission.