PMDC 'bans' fee collection by medical colleges

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has banned the collection of fees by private medical and dental colleges, ARY News reported on Thursday, citing sources.

As per details, the PMDC has 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 has been 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 is currently 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.

In 2012, the PMDC capped annual fees for private medical colleges at Rs500,000 with a five per cent annual increase, but this regulation was disregarded by many institutions.

It may be noted that in July last year, the PMDC approached the health ministry seeking its legal opinion to bring uniformity to the fee structure. However, even after almost six months, the issue of exorbitant fees could not be addressed.

At that time, the council had requested the ministry to seek the advice of the Law and Justice Department within 15 days to enable the council to reach a decision since it wanted to resolve the issue before new admissions to the private colleges.