10 medical, dental institutes get nod

LAHORE, Dec 22: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council at its 119th general council meeting on Thursday gave approval to 10 newly-established public and private sector medical and dental colleges in the country.
For the first time, the PMDC also approved two government medical and dental institutes in Azad Kashmir on the long-standing demands of Kashmiri students.
Presided over by Prof Dr Sibtul Husnain, the general council meeting was held in Islamabad on Thursday. More than 60 members of the council, including principals, vice chancellors and heads of medical and dental institutes, attended the meeting.
Of the six approved state-run medical and dental colleges, four belong to Punjab and one each to Muzaffarabad and Mirpurkhas, a source told Dawn.
The private medical colleges are: Rahbar Medical College, Lahore; Aziz Fatima Medical College, Faisalabad; Hashmat Medical College, Jalalpur Jattan, Gujrat; and Bibi Asifa Dental College, Larkana.
The newly-established government medical colleges are: Gujranwala Medical College, Gujranwala; Khawaja Safdar Medical College, Sialkot; Sahiwal Medical College, Sahiwal; and Post Graduate Medical College (for under graduates), Lahore.The source said the PMDC general council had also given green signal to the students of under-construction DG Khan Medical College of the Punjab government to submit their admissions through the Quaid-iAzam Medical College, where they were attending classes for the session 2010-11 and recently admitted students for the session 2011-2012.
On the occasion, he said, the PMDC constituted a committee headed by UHS Vice-Chancellor Hussain Mubashar Malik to look into the matters pertaining to the DG Khan Medical College like infrastructure, ongoing development work, provision of faculty and academic issues of its students studying in QAMC, Bahawalpur.
The other members on the committee are: Punjab Health Secretary Mohammad Jahanzeb Khan, Dow Medical University, Karachi Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Masood Hameed and Prof Dr Muhammad Rafique.
The committee would submit its recommendations to the PMDC on the matters exclusively relating to DG Khan Medical College to make it fully functional as soon as possible.
The meeting also approved the Post Graduate Medical College and asked the Punjab health authorities to change college’s name. Though the PG Medical College has been approved by the PMDC, the Punjab government did not allow its administration to admit students for the 2011-12 session.
The PMDC also issued directions that all the newly-established government and private medical colleges in Punjab “shall affiliate with the UHS

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif rejected uniform policy for MBBS students in medical and dental colleges

LAHORE,Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has rejected a summary seeking introduction of a uniform policy for admission to public- and private-sector medical and dental colleges, leaving little chance of bringing the private institutions under government authority, Dawn’s learnt.
Shahbaz Rejects uniform policy for MBBS
The summary has been rejected on the basis of certain objections and legal complications pointed out by the Law Department in the light of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Ordinance 1962, the PMDC Regulations 2010 and the UHS Lahore Ordinance 2002.
These laws clearly declare that the provincial government has no legal authority to bring the private medical and dental institutions under a uniform policy.
According to the documents obtained by Dawn, the Punjab Law Department in its recommendations had rejected any role of the PMDC and the UHS in regulating the private medical and dental colleges through centralisation of their admission process.
The health department also endorsed the viewpoint and requested the chief minister to ‘drop’ the scheme of bringing the private medical and dental institutions under a new policy for admissions.
Health Secretary Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan confirmed the development, saying the idea of introducing new uniform admission policy was floated by some participants in a meeting chaired by the chief minister a couple of months back.
Later, the case was re-examined in several meetings, one of which was chaired by the chief secretary, he added.The matter of regulating the private medical institutions by the Punjab government has remained a hotly debated issue at formal and informal meetings, discussions and various forums.
The documents say: “Government in the Health Department has no lawful authority itself to monitor or control admission process in private medical and dental colleges; however, subject to the 1962 Ordinance and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Regulations, University of Health Sciences can exercise reasonable control on such institutions through the tools of affiliation and disaffiliation and the terms and conditions prescribed for grant of affiliation and continuance of affiliation. For the purpose, the UHS is empowered to promulgate appropriate statutory instruments.”
t further says: “The Provincial Admission Authority (PAA), constituted by the provincial government to finalise admissions to the public-sector medical and dental institutions, has no legal authority to finalise admissions to the private-sector medical colleges.
Each such college has to admit students on merit strictly in accordance with regulatory prescriptions of PMDC, and subject to that, by the affiliating University,” the law department recommended.
Law experts further clarified that as the centralised admission for the private medical and dental institutions by a provincial authority was not envisaged under the existing regulatory framework, the role of the provincial government was confined to holding of Central Entrance Test (CET) for the eligible candidates and
to constitute PAA for purposes of admission to the public-sector medical and dental colleges.
The health and law officers also cited references of the 18th Amendment in the recommendations to convince the chief minister.
They said: “By virtue of the Constitution (Eighteen Amendment) Act 2010, the subjects, relating to ‘legal, medical and other professions’ and ‘standards in the institutions for higher educations research, scientific and technical institutions’, have been shifted from the Concurrent Legislative List (Science omitted) to Part-II of the Federal Legislative List.
“Although, the subjects now fall within the policy making purview of the Council of Common Interests, the legislative and executive authority wholly vests in the Federal Government in terms of Article 142 (a) read with Article 97 of the Constitution.”
They further said the provincial government could not exercise executive authority in respect of any of the said subjects except to the extent that the federal government empowered it through statutory means.
“Now when the minimum requirement for eligibility to appear in the CET is 60 per cent marks in the aggregate in FSc and when no one can be admitted to any public or private medical or dental college without taking the CET, any apprehension that private medical and dental colleges would admit poorly qualified students to mint money may not stand the test on a rational basis. So the PMDC and UHS have to exercise regulatory controls strictly within the spheres allocated to each,” the law department said.
In the light of the detailed examination of the legal background, the health and law departments had asked the chief minister to maintain the Admission Policy (Session 2011-12) which he (the CM) had already approved in pursuance of the recommendations submitted by a committee headed by Senior Adviser Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa in August last.
In the light of that policy the UHS had conducted combined entrance test for both streams of candidates — FSc and non-FSc this year.Dawn.

lahore high court gave decsion in favour of 50-40-10 uhs to display list now

lahore high court gave decsion in favour of 50-40-10 uhs to display list now   .uhs gona display merit list 2011 accordng to 50-40-10

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  LAHORE, Oct 28: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has raised certain objections to two newly-established public medical colleges of Punjab for not fulfilling the minimum criteria required…...
• Admission to medical colleges Govt rejects teachers` plea for restoration of quota
  PESHAWAR, Sept 29: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has rejected the health department`s summary seeking restoration of the admission quota for children of teachers and doctors in the state-run medical…...
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Medical education: Private schools accused of violating admission rules, LHC order

By Ali Usman

Published: November 1, 2011

Colleges say no rules are being broken, term admissions ‘temporary’.

LAHORE:  The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has again accused private medical colleges of violating Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) regulations by conducting admissions before public medical colleges complete their process, though private colleges deny this.

The admission process has been put on hold after the formula used to calculate the merit list, which determines which students get coveted seats at public medical colleges, was challenged in the Lahore High Court.
Under PMDC rules, admissions to private colleges can only be made once the process for public colleges, conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) in the Punjab, is finished. This process for public colleges was supposed to have been completed by October 30 and classes were scheduled to begin on November 21, but the LHC has told the UHS to halt the process while it considers a petition challenging the merit formula. The formula was recently changed to give more weight to the intermediate results and less to the entry test score.
Private colleges are conducting admissions activities, but they say there is nothing illegal about them. One student told The Express Tribune that he had already paid a private college around Rs70,000 as tuition fees for the first year.
Muhammad Azhar Siddique, who is representing the petitioners in the case against the merit formula, said that the court had halted admissions so the private colleges were acting illegally if they were going ahead with the process.
“This shows that the UHS has failed to get its rules on private medical colleges implemented. It means that PMDC regulations are only applicable to the poor students who go to public sector medical colleges. The rich can do whatever they want in private medical colleges,” Siddique said.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Joint Secretary Dr Salman Kazmi said that the private medical colleges were acting illegally and their actions would “devastate” medical education in the province. “We appeal to the chief justice to take notice of the situation and stop private colleges from devastating medical educations standards,” he said.
However, the principal of a private college who wished not to be named said that the colleges were not doing anything illegal as they had not finalised any admissions. “We haven’t done any permanent admissions. These are just temporary admissions so we have an idea about how many of our seats can be filled. If any of these students get into a public medical college he or she can go their. We will refund all their dues except the admission fee,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2011.

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MALIK, SAHIN DISCUSS MUTUAL RELATIONS & COOPERATION IN MEETING 06:12 PST

Education woes: ‘Private medical colleges are in it for profit’

Published: November 2, 2011

The petitioners allege that transparency was lacking in the entrance test and the PMDC had changed the test scheme altogether. PHOTO: APP

LAHORE:  The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on Tuesday told the Lahore High Court that private medical colleges were only doing business and did not allocate any quota for poor students.

The counsel for the PMDC made the statement when a division bench asked him whether private medical colleges allocate an admission quota for poor students. “Private colleges do not allocate such quota. They are totally business organisations,” Advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Umar replied.
The division bench headed by Justice Chaudhry Shahid Saeed was hearing several petitions against the University of Health Sciences entrance test for admission in medical colleges and the revised criteria for admissions.
The judge remarked that the government should require that private medical colleges allocate a quota for poor students. If there was no mechanism to govern the private sector, then double shifts should be introduced in public sector colleges to accommodate poor students, the judge said.
The PMDC counsel said uniform admissions criteria were being followed across the country since 2003 and an LHC bench had endorsed it last year.
Justice Saeed said private medical colleges had already completed the admissions process and collected money from potential students. What would be the future of these students if the court gave a decision against the entrance test.
The judge again asked the counsel whether the council could take action against private colleges. The counsel said the PMDC will take action if the court ordered it.
The petitioner’s counsel said that most of the students who appeared in the entrance test had passed the FSc last year. He said lack of a quota for poor students was a violation of Article 25 and 25-A of the Constitution. He said the entrance test system discriminated against poor students.
Advocate Rasaal Hasan Sayed, the counsel for the UHS, said the FSc examination was substandard.
The counsel also requested the court to withdraw the stay order against the October 20 merit list of UHS for admission in medical colleges. The judge turned down the plea. The judge observed, however, that the case would be decided at the next hearing.
The proceedings were adjourned for Wednesday (today) with instructions to the counsel to conclude their arguments. The bench will also take up petitions favouring the entrance test filed by some other students.
The petitioners allege that transparency was lacking in the entrance test and the PMDC had changed the test scheme altogether. They said under Section 33 of the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council Act 1962, the Council was duty bound to maintain uniformity of courses in medical colleges.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2011.

Two colleges denied recognition: 200 medical students’ ‘future at stake’

LAHORE, Nov 01, 2011: As many as 200 students are destined to see their hopes shattered with regard to their admission on merit to two public sector medical colleges just because the Punjab health department has failed to develop these institutes up to the minimum standards assigned by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Dawn has learnt.
They will have to either leave the medical profession or pay hefty fees to private medical colleges of the country which are no less than Rs500 million for the five-year MBBS degree programme, showing apathy of the Punjab government towards the future of the students. The accommodation, transportation and other expenditures were not included in the abovementioned fees.
The PMDC had fixed Rs500,000 for a student to pay as annual fee in a private medical college last year.
A source said the PMDC had recently refused to accord recognition to two newly-established government medical colleges – Sahiwal Medical College and DG Khan Medical College – over various grounds including shortage of faculty.
The administrations of these two medical colleges had, time and again, told the authorities concerned that the objections raised by the PMDC were of minor nature and they could easily manage classes for 2011-12 session, using available infrastructure and faculty, the source said.
While the new undergraduate medical college of Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) situated at 6-Birdwood Road near Jail Road could not admit medical students for session 2011-12 owing to the procedural snags despite getting a go-ahead by the PMDC for the purpose.
According to the source, the Punjab health department in a letter dated Feb 23, 2011 had granted approval to the PGMI to apply to the federal government/PMDC for an undergraduate medical college for academic session 2011-12.Later, an application was moved for the recognition of PGMI Medical College to the PMDC registrar on March 31, 2011.
The PMDC registrar then invited the PGMI principal to appear and make a presentation about the institution before the executive committee on July 19, 2011. A detailed presentation was given and subsequently a request was made for the earliest possible visit by the PMDC inspection team for issuance of NOC under section 11 of PMDC Ordinance 1962, the source said.
A comprehensive inspection was scheduled and performed by the PMDC team on Sept 9, 2011 after which the report was furnished with certain minor observations.
The PGMI perceived all observations positively and assured the council that all directions would be followed in letter and spirit.
Meanwhile, the source said, the University Health Sciences administration assured that the MBBS classes at PGMI Medical College on 6-Birdwood Road, Lahore, would be started for session 2011-12. Later a request was made for inspection to extend affiliation to the medical college under article 38 of UHS Ordinance 2002 for inclusion of the name of PGMI medical college in the prospectus of UHS for session 2011-12. A reminder was also sent on Oct 7 to the UHS in this regard.
The UHS also sent a similar request on July 4, 2011 to the Punjab health department for the notification to the effect.
Since then the health department has not completed the procedural formalities, thus depriving the students of admission.
Addressing a news conference at Lahore Press Club on Monday, the Pakistan Medical Association asked the Punjab chief minister to start MBBS classes at the PGMI Medical College without further delay.
PMA office-bearers Dr. M. Ashraf Nizami, Dr. Tanveer Anwar and others appreciated the decision of the Punjab government of setting up new public sector medical colleges in the province.
They said as the PMDC had already approved the medical college so the Punjab government should allow admission to it in the larger interest of the students.
The PMA office-bearers said there was trained faculty and laboratories at PGMI and it had fulfilled all those requirements prescribed by the PMDC in its laid-down procedure.
The government’s decision in this regard would also help overcome the shortage of doctors.
When contacted Health Secretary Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan said the department was in constant contact with the PMDC to get recognition for DG Khan and Sahiwal medical colleges. He expressed the hope that the council would recognise the two colleges in coming weeks.
About PGMI Medical College, he said, it had been decided in principle that the health department would not allow the college for admission for 2011-12 session owing to certain reasons.
The major reason for delay in admissions was that the UHS had already prepared the merit list of the students and to allow the PGMI Medical College for admission would create a lot of problems for the authorities concerned, he said.
So, Mr Jehanzeb said, the health department had directed the PGMI administration to give more attention to its postgraduate programmes this year for which the institute was especially designated.