09 February 2005	Wednesday	29 Zilhaj 1425

PESHAWAR, Feb 8: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council in collaboration with the federal health ministry has prepared the draft of a legislation to check mushrooming growth of medical colleges in the country.

Sources said the law would set guidelines and conditions for the establishment of medical colleges in the public and private sectors. They said the proposed act had been given a final shape and it would be presented in parliament soon.

Under the law, a bank guarantee of Rs100 million and a purpose-built building would be required for every new medical or dental college.

"Without the fulfilment of these requirements, a no-objection certificate will not be given to new medical and dental colleges in future," they said.

The sources said the PMDC was facing problems regarding recognition of colleges which had been established.

The law would prescribe that each college would need to be attached with a 300-bed hospital in its proximity, they said. Citing examples of the Gomal Medical College, Dera Ismail Khan, and the Saidu Medical College, Swat, they said the students of those institutions were uncertain about their future.

They said the colleges had been accorded provisional recognition. "If they fail to fulfil the criteria, they will not be given recognition by the PMDC," they said. They said that one batch from the two colleges had graduated but the graduates were yet to be recognised as doctors. To avoid such anomalies in future, a sentence of one to five years' imprisonment with Rs10 million fine had been proposed in the new act, the sources said.