ISLAMABAD: An official of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has alleged that the former management of the medical commission approved provisional recognition of over a dozen medical and dental colleges in violation of rules.

The colleges were allowed to admit students without any inspection and fulfilment of basic criteria, the official claimed. “I am trying to bring this to the notice of the new council to investigate the colleges and take appropriate action,” the official claimed and added that admissions by these colleges were on-going till to-date.

The official alleged that the defunct Pakistan Medical and Dental Council had stopped these “colleges from admitting students” in past. “It is against the law and is unfair to other medical and dental colleges which fulfilled the sat criteria,” he added.

The official further claimed that “seat enhancement for two colleges” was approved without inspection, calling it a discriminatory treatment to other colleges awaiting an increase in seats despite fulfilling the criteria.

Rawalpindi likely to get MDCAT centre as students complain of discrimination

When contacted, a PMC spokesperson said the matter had been already been brought to the notice of the commission. “We have zero-tolerance policy and will take action in case of violation of rules,” he added.

However, former vice president of PMC Ali Raza told Dawn that all steps were taken as per rules and no violations were made during the recognition of the said colleges.“We worked tirelessly and followed rules and regulations while taking every step and decision,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi is likely to get an examination centre to facilitate candidates from north Punjab appearing in the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT), according to reports.

However, University of Health Sciences (UHS) Vice Chancellor Dr Ahsan Rathore said that the PMC had informed that there was no need to establish centres in Rawalpindi, as candidates will appear for the exam at the centres in Islamabad. He added that there was no proposal by the UHS to establish centres in Rawalpindi and referred this reporter to the PMC for further queries.

However, a representative of the PMC said that when online tests were being conducted, Rawalpindi and Islamabad were considered one block and it was decided that candidates will be called to Islamabad for the exam.

“There are 210,000 candidates who have registered themselves [for the exam] and there is a small number of students who opted for the UHS exam instead of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University. So it was not cost-effective to establish a UHS centre in Rawalpindi,” he said. He said that those who will appear in the test of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University will also be able to get admission to universities affiliated with UHS.

On the other hand, students said the PMC had established entry test centres in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur, and Dera Ghazi Khan for the UHS.

According to an applicant, candidates from Attock, Murree, Wah Cantt, Chakwal and Gujjar Khan would have to travel to Gujranwala or Lahore for the exam, which was inconvenient.

Another candidate said the nearest exam centre for the candidates from northern Punjab was in Gujranwala. She added that Sialkot, Gujranwala and Lahore were located at a close distance, but candidates from these cities had been allotted local centres, but a similar treatment was not meted out to candidates in the Pindi region.

The students urged Health Minister Qadir Patel to establish centres in Rawalpindi to facilitate candidates appearing in the MDCAT.

It may be noted that candidates can change their centres till 12pm today.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2022