ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medi­cal Commission (PMC) has taken act­ion against 57 private medical and dental colleges for violation of admission regulations after receiving hundreds of complaints against 69 institutions.

Some of the colleges had admitted students against merit while others had not mentioned the marks of interview. Also, some colleges had admitted students before even displaying merit list and others had received fee of all the five years in advance.

To address these violations, admissions to some of the colleges will be re-advertised so that merit is followed while others have been directed to return overcharged fees, according to PMC vice president Ali Raza.

A PMC official told Dawn that complaints had been received against 69 colleges, but applications against three of them were rejected. “As many as 66 colleges were placed in three categories, the first category was for minor issues and the third was for major irregularities. As it involved multiple levels of inquiry, nine colleges addressed issues and action has been taken against 57 colleges,” he explained.

After receiving the complaints, the PMC had placed the offending private colleges in three categories: suspension of admissions (category-I), cancellation of admissions (category-II) and refund of excessive fee (category-III), and issued orders accordingly.

While addressing a presser on Saturday, PMC Vice President Ali Raza said: “Twenty eight colleges were issued order in the first category, 36 colleges in the second and two colleges faced action in the third category. The private colleges were instructed to take punitive measures to rectify their violations.

“Twenty two colleges in the first category did not display interview marks and/or [merit] lists before the admissions. These colleges had asked for fee deposits before displaying merit lists and prioritised students with strong financial backgrounds. Students with low merit who had deposited fee were given higher marks in interviews during the admission process. Lastly, these colleges conducted same interview for MBBS and BDS admissions,” he said.

“Four colleges in the first category did not display their merit lists in accordance with PMC admission regulations. Students were given a maximum of three working days’ time from January 26 to February 2, 2021 to deposit the fee. Failure in doing so resulted in the cancellation of their slot. Also, two colleges in the first category had adopted their own admission process [instead of PMC admission regulations]. They had initiated admissions before the PMC national merit list was issued. Their list did not show PMC merit and PMC standing. Even though the colleges had followed the formula of 50pc MDCAT and 30pc FSC marks, the figure is not exactly the same as shown in the PMC merit list,” the vice president elaborated.

Re-admission process

Mr Raza said PMC would advertise admissions for the colleges again so that PMC merit was followed. However, he said, “The cost of advertisement for this re-admission process shall be borne by the colleges. The lowest merit on the college’s admission list will be 80pc of the total marks according to the admission criteria of PMC. Students who did not get admission to the college will be notified to apply within five days after the advertisement is published. If the student fulfils the criteria, they shall be given two days to deposit the annual fee of the college to accept the admission. If any student is admitted to the college through this process, the admission of the student at the lowest merit shall stand cancelled.”

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2021