Pakistan govt to 'ban' registration of new medical & dental colleges

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan government reportedly decided to ban registration of new medical and dental colleges by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), ARY News reported on Monday, citing sources.

Sources told ARY News that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to halt the registration of new medical and dental colleges following the government’s guidelines.

The PMDC has officially approved this decision, and no applications for registration submitted after January 5 will be considered. However, 13 applications submitted before January 5 are currently under review, the sources said.

The decision to impose the ban was made due to the shortage of faculty in medical colleges. Currently, there are 121 private and 66 public medical and dental colleges in the country.

Last month, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) reportedly banned the collection of fees by private medical and dental colleges.

The PMDC sent a notice to the institutions to avoid collecting fees following a recommendation by the Senate Committee. The Senate’s Health Sub-Committee had advised the suspension of fee collection.

A ban was imposed on fee collection until the Medical Education Committee submits its recommendations. This committee, headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, was formed by the Prime Minister to review the situation.

The committee evaluating the standards and issues faced by private medical universities and colleges. Over the past five years, private medical colleges have been collecting over Rs15 million in fees, the sources said.