PMDC Cancels College Admissions
Lahore: 19 September : The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has cancelled all admissions made by University Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad, warning 23 other private institutions in Punjab of disciplinary action for violating the council's regulations.
The PMDC has acted against 24 out of total 40 recognised private sector medical and dental institutions in Punjab on receiving complaints that these institutes started the admission process a week before entrance test date in 'blatant' violation of council's regulations formulated to ensure transparency and merit.
The PMDC was of the view these institutes would not be allowed to play with the future of the medical students.
There are 3,050 total MBBS seats available with 28 medical colleges in private sector and 715 BDS slots with dental institutions. The entrance test for admissions to MBBS/BDS will be held on Sept 22.
Prima facie it seems that you have violated the PMDC regulations and so all your admissions and admission process done before October 31 are hereby cancelled and you are directed to start admission process afresh with a fresh advertisement for admission in order to avoid invoking of Section 25 of Medical & Dental Council (Amendment) Act 2012 which amended the Section 22 of the PM&DC Ordinance, 1962", PMDC registrar warned principal of the University Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad, through a letter dated Sept 6.
PMDC Registrar Dr Raja Amjad Mahmood has also reproduced in this regard Para-3 (3) of the regulation, "(3) Private medical and dental institutions in all provinces shall advertise for admission of students only after the determination of final order of merit by the respective provincial testing/admission authorities or 31st October whichever is earlier. They will not conduct their own entry test and shall form final merit by utilising the Provincial/government/NTS test result in their province/territory, however, they may conduct the aptitude test and interview as per these rules."
According to the documents (a copy of which is also available with Dawn) the PMDC has warned the heads of the private institutions that the admissions made by institutes or advertisement before given deadline (Oct 31) will be considered a violation of the regulations of the council, the only statutory, regulatory and registration authority for medical and dental education and practitioners in the country.
The private medical and dental institutions which received PMDC alerts and warnings include Akhtar Saeed Medical and Dental College (Lahore), Central Park Medical College (Lahore), Institute of Dentistry, CMH Medical College (Lahore), Multan Medical and Dental College (Multan), Avicenna Medical College (Lahore), Shalamar Medical and Dental College (Lahore), Lahore Medical and Dental College (Lahore), FMH College of Medicine and Dentistry (Lahore), Margalla College of Dentistry (Rawalpindi), Wah Medical College (Wah Cantt), Sharif Medical & Dental College (Lahore), Continental Medical College (Lahore), Independent Medical College (Faisalabad), Rashid Medical College (Lahore), Islam Medical College (Sialkot), Pak Red Crescent Medical & Dental College (Lahore), Hashmat Medical & Dental College (Gujrat) and Aziz Fatimah Medical & Dental College (Faisalabad).
"This is to inform you that PMDC is receiving complaints regarding admission in private medical and dental colleges before 31st October as per admission in MBBS/BDS courses and condition for house job/internship/foundation year regulations you are required to implement the regulations in letter and spirit, otherwise disciplinary action shall be initiated against violators," the letter reads.
The registrar further said: "The provincial authority/NTS shall complete all formalities, including holding of entry test and declaration of its result for admission of public medical and dental colleges before 31st October each year or within four weeks of declaration of the result of F.Sc. by the Higher Secondary Education/intermediate boards, whichever is earlier, so that the final merit list of public colleges reaches PMDC before October 31. The provincial central admission authority/NTS shall form the final merit for admission in medical and dental colleges after giving due weightage to matric/equivalent F.Sc. Intermediate/HSSC equivalent and the entry test marks as given in these regulations. Private medical and dental institutions in all provinces shall advertise for admission of students only after the determination of final order of merit by the respective provincial testing/admission authorities or Oct 31, whichever is earlier."
Earlier, the University of Health Sciences (UHS) had also directed these medical institutes in August this year to follow the rules and regulations of the PMDC in letter and spirit otherwise any step may jeopardise the student's future. Dawn.
