ISLAMABAD: The subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) on Wednesday directed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council to revoke the licences of private colleges within two weeks in case of non-compliance.

The Senate panel in its meeting chaired by Senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan on Wednesday discussed exorbitant fees charged by private medical colleges and steps taken by the regulatory body to address this issue.

The committee offered to play a role in introducing legislation if the PMDC was helpless in the implementation of its decision to streamline the fee structure.

The Senate body also took up complaints from students enrolled in the Sargodha Medical University, wherein they stated that private medical colleges were charging hefty fees without even providing state-of-the-art facilities. The committee forwarded these complaints to the health ministry and recommended that the anonymity of the students be maintained.

Senate panel hints at legislation to cap fees if regulatory body is helpless

Senator Palwasha Khan said the PMDC should take action against private medical colleges charging excessive fees. The committee also recommended that the PMDC reimburse students the extra fees charged before introducing the fee structure for the financial year 2024-25. It also directed the PMDC to cancel the licences of private medical colleges within two weeks if they fail to comply with the committee’s recommendations.

PMDC President Dr Rizwan Taj informed that the recommendations have been sent to Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar regarding the fee structure for 2024-25.

Regarding the non-implementation of the rebate regulations by private medical colleges in Islamabad, the PMDC president informed that the private medical colleges agreed to refund the amount claimed by the students. He informed that committee that the association of private medical and dental colleges was of the view that the council could not decide about their fees.

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.

According to the July letter, the PMDC in 2010 and 2012 fixed the tuition fee for private medical and dental colleges at Rs500,000 and Rs600,000 per annum, respectively. The council later allowed a 7pc increase and fixed it at Rs642,000. It stated that the Supreme Court in March 2018 – while deciding a suo motu case – directed medical colleges in Pakistan to refund the amount excess of Rs850,000, which was received from their students for that session.

It stated that in 2018 the tuition fee for private colleges was fixed at Rs850,000 initially and later at Rs950,000 based upon a Supreme Court order dated September 17, 2018.

Subsequently, a 5pc annual increase in the tuition fee was allowed for the session 2020-21.

The letter added that the PMDC was re-constituted under the PMDC Act, 2022. “All medical and dental colleges shall, at least three months prior to initiating the annual admissions process, publicly declare the fixed tuition and all ancillary fee structure on an annual basis for the entire programme of study in which the students are seeking enrolment and [of] which fee structure shall not be enhanced during the students’ period of enrolment at the college,” it stated.

The letter said the fee structure obtained from private colleges for sessions 2022-23 and 2023-24 showed a lack of uniformity/standardisation in the tuition fees being charged by these colleges. The letter also mentioned numerous complaints from students regarding the exorbitant tuition fees being charged by the colleges.

“Now, in the larger interest of medical/dental students seeking admissions in private colleges, the council intends to set a maximum limit for the tuition fee for all private colleges for uniformity and standardisation to be applied across the country,” it stated.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025