KARACHI, Oct 26: The management of a private medical and dental college has blamed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council for delay in the grant of affiliation to its medical section by the Karachi University.
Unpleased with the workings of the PMDC and other educational bodies, the chief executive of the Fatima Jinnah Dental College and Hospital Trust, Dr S. Baqar Askary, demanded during a press conference, on Friday, that President Pervez Musharraf should institute a high-power commission to inquire into matters pertaining to medical education, training and treatment in the country and suggest improvement.
He said that various government bodies and functionaries were at loggerheads with each other and that, too, in the press and media, much to the dismay and confusion of the general public. Chaotic conditions prevail as different public-sector universities as well as the University Grants Commission accuse each other of acting against laid-down rules and regulations and for transgression of jurisdiction, he added.
He said that a number of medical and dental education institutions established all over the country, functioning for the last couple of years and having gone through various professional examinations, were found to be illegal at this last stage much to the inconvenience and financial and monetary loss of the students and faculty.
The Punjab government wants to close some of the medical institutions established in the province after getting recognition of the PMDC and affiliation from foreign universities or those located outside the province, he claimed.
Referring to the problem of his own college, Dr Askary said that the management wanted to introduce MBBS courses at the college, but to-date, despite lapse of considerable time, no significant progress has been observed regarding grant of due recognition by the PMDC and KU affiliation.
He said that the KU was of the view that it was not in a position to proceed with the affiliation applications as the PMDC has not recognized the college so far.
He said that the PMDC, after a request made in August 2000, finally conducted an inspection in October, this year, and any report in this regard was to be submitted at a meeting of the council on Oct 26-27, which had once again been postponed till Dec 29, for reasons best known to the PMDC.
He feared that due to the uncalled-for and inordinate delay, the applicant students and the college would lose the 2001-2002 academic year as well.
While urging the KU to grant provisional affiliation to the medical section, he also recalled the academic excellence achieved and maintained by his college in the dental section.
He expressed the view that the KU was not bound to comply with an ordinance of May 1999 by the federal government, emphasizing that no university should grant affiliation to any medical and dental college unless the PMDC recognizes that institution, as it had lapsed.
He said that since the lapse, it, in-effect, restored power to the various KU statutory bodies to play their roles as laid down in the university act.
Our credentials are well-established in the PMDC and the KU on the dental section for the last 10 years and we would be quite justified to give pending admissions the recognition and affiliation as has been done by public and private-sector colleges in the past, Dr Askary concluded.
