Medicine, dentistry colleges established at KMDC

KARACHI: Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhter on Monday approved establishment of two separate colleges at the Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC), ARY NEWS reported.

The decision was made in a meeting jointly chaired by the Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhter and chairman of the KMDC’s governing body.

According to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) spokesman, the college of dentistry and medicine would act as different colleges having separate academic councils.

However, he said that the governing body for both the colleges remain same.

The spokesman said that the decision would not have any financial implications on the educational institution already suffering from financial crunch. “The heads of both the dentistry and medicine departments are elevated as the principals of the colleges,” he said.

The meeting also decided to elevate the status of the School of Nursing Abbasi Shaheed Hospital as College of Nursing. The nursing college would also offer a four-year degree programme.

In September 2019, the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC) staged protest over non-payment of salaries.

The out-patient department of the college remained closed due to the protest by medics and other staff. According to the protesting doctors, they have been deprived of salaries for the last four months.

Most of the students also remain absent owing to the boycott, said one of the protesters. He said the college staff have not been paid salaries for the last four months.

Read More: KMDC staff continues protest against non-payment of salaries 

He said that the shutdown of the college would continue till the problems are solved.

The dental college, administered by Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), has been facing a financial crisis.

The KMC authorities have told the college officials that the salaries of college staff are paid from the grant of the Government of Sindh, which was not released to the KMC by the government.