29 October 2004	Friday	14 Ramazan 1425

LAHORE, Oct 28: The Punjab government has notified that all medical colleges affiliated with the University of Health Sciences will pay 5.5 per cent of the aggregate package of admission and tuition fee to university.

The notification issued by the health department says that all medical colleges affiliated with the UHS shall pay 5.5 per cent of the aggregate package of admission fee, including tuition and other fees charged from the students (except hostel dues and refundable securities), to the university as its share for administrative and service charges with effect from the date of their affiliation with the UHS.

The UHS had prepared "rules for medical institutions' affiliation" in September 2003 and asked the colleges to pay 10 per cent of their total receipts collected on account of fees from students. The university had also asked the public and private medical colleges to sign affidavits in this regard.

However, the university's demand had drawn a strong reaction from medical institutions particularly the private institutions.

Affiliated institutions' heads had, however, agreed that they would pay the share to the UHS if the Punjab government approved it. Finally, the government approved that the medical and dental colleges affiliated with the UHS shall pay a 5.5 per cent share of their admission and tuition fee receipts to the UHS accordingly and submit subsequently additional requirements, if any, to the health department for the grant of additional funds.

Some 13 medical institutions, including three in the private sector, are affiliated with the UHS.

The public sector medical colleges are the Allama Iqbal Medical College, the Services Institute of Medical Sciences, the de'Montmorency College of Dentistry and the Institute of Public Health, Lahore; the Nishtar Medical College, Multan; the Rawalpindi Medical College; the Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad; the Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur; and the Shaikh Zayed Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan.

The private sector colleges are the Lahore Medical and Dental College; Fatima Memorial Hospital College of Medicine and Dentistry; and the Wah Medical College, Wah Cantt.

Except Wah Medical College, all public and private sector colleges were affiliated with the UHS either at the time of university's establishment or creation of the institution.