THIS is with reference to the report ‘Nine medical colleges allowed to operate without fulfilling criteria’ (May 8), according to which, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has allowed nine medical and dental colleges to start functioning even though they have been found deficient on many counts.

The report further claimed that none of the nine colleges was ever inspected by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). However, the fact is that these colleges had a comprehensive inspection by a joint PMC-HEC team towards the end of 2019. The teams included no less than a dozen senior professors, who had been experienced inspectors and had attended workshops on the existing criteria of inspection of medical and/or dental colleges.

After the inspection of a large numbers of medical and dental colleges, these nine institutions were found to have adequate facilities, met the inspection criteria and were allowed to start the admission process. This was communicated to these nine colleges through a letter by the PMC addressed to the respective principals on Jan 2, 2020, and to the vice-chancellors of the admitting universities on Jan 7, 2020.

These colleges lawfully admitted their first batch through the central admission process by the admitting universities. In Sindh, it was the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS).

When an ad hoc body of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) was reinstated by a court order and it replaced the PMC, it rejected the inspections by the joint PMC-HEC teams. This was done without any new inspection and without writing and seeking any reply or explanation from these colleges. It was simply advertised in the newspapers.

After the PMC Bill was passed on Sept 16, 2020, it conducted a meeting on Oct 16, 2020, and duly approved agenda item number 21, which read: “… the council validated the recognition of colleges previously inspected by HEC and PMC in December 2019”.

In the light of the facts presented above, it is quite clear that both the claims that these colleges are allowed to operate without fulfilling criteria, and that these colleges have not been inspected by the HEC, are factually incorrect.

Prof (Dr) Syed Razi Muhammad

President, Pakistan Association of Private

Medical & Dental Institution (PAMI),

Sindh Chapter

Mirpurkhas

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2021