KARACHI, Jan 23: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has made it mandatory for all new medical and dental colleges to obtain no-objection certificate (NOC) from it before advertising for admissions to first-year classes, it was learnt officially.

According to the PMDC sources, the council has approved various amendments to the criteria and procedures for inspection and recognition of the newly-established undergraduate medical and dental institutions, as recommended by a special committee. It will be applicable to all new medical and dental colleges, in both private and public sectors, besides those institutions which are still awaiting recognition.

It was approved by the council in its last meeting that all concerned institutions should apply to the PMDC for inspection before issuing advertisement inviting applications for admissions to the first-year classes. The advertisement can only be given after issuance of the NOC, the sources added.

Following the amendments, now any college intending to seek the NOC, will have to submit a comprehensive feasibility report, including relevant documents of ownership, possession and plan of academic blocks. A college will be required to have physical facilities, including academic blocks, dissection halls, common rooms, cafeteria, equipment, laboratories, models, laboratory system, and information technology.

Regarding teaching hospital attached with the college, it was decided that the criteria of five beds per annual admission could be lowered to a minimum three beds, but the hospital should be functional at the time of first inspection of the college. In the case of dental institutes, at least half (0.5) dental chair per admission should be made available at the time of first inspection.

The amendments also suggested for inclusion of departments of medical education and physiotherapy as part of hospital/college. The attached hospitals should provide emergency treatment with all standard hospital requirements and should have modern diagnostic facilities with close circuit TV for educational purposes.

The PMDC has also decided that medical/dental college should be affiliated with the universities of the same province.

Meanwhile, the PMDC is considering to write letters to all the universities separately asking them to provide following information:

Whether they have medical or dental faculties, by-laws and examination facilities, whether they have given affiliation to any medical or dental colleges outside their jurisdiction and about the jurisdiction of each university.