KARACHI: The controversy surrounding the denotification of Karachi University by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) deepened on Tuesday when the university syndicate decided to set up a medical college and a hospital, warning the regulatory body that the varsity would move court against the PMDC if it didn’t approve the two facilities, sources told Dawn.

The sources added that the KU syndicate met, with the vice chancellor in the chair, to discuss the denotification of the university on the ground that it had given affiliation to 13 medical colleges but it didn’t have a medical college and a teaching hospital of its own.

The university name was mentioned in the PMDC Act, 1962, though it never had a medical college, said a syndicate member after attending the meeting. “The university has a dean of the faculty of medicine and has been overseeing medical teaching and examination for decades. Even other private medical colleges seek equivalence from the university if their students intend to study abroad,” he said.

The university had already approved establishment of the medical college and hospital and even approved the admission process for the college, he said.

“The controversial PMDC has mala-fide intentions. We strongly oppose denotification of public sector universities and will take the council to court if wasn’t satisfied with our steps to set up a medical college and hospital,” said Prof Jameel Kazmi, head of Karachi University Teachers Society and also a syndicate member.

The universities, he added, were denotified without being served with a warning notice.

The PMDC had recently denotified Karachi University along with Punjab University, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, University of Punjab, Lahore, Hazara University, Mansehra, Sarhad University, Peshawar, University of Peshawar, University of Sindh, Hyderabad and University of Sindh, Jamshoro. The medical colleges affiliated with these institutions have also been denotified, according to a PMDC advertisement printed in newspapers.

All the members had serious concern over the development, said a senior KU teacher after attending the meeting. “It was decided that the university would contact other universities on this matter,” says a KU press release.

Given the fact that the Lahore High Court had given a decision against the PMDC last year, the body lost the legal authority to regulate medical institutions in the country, said another syndicate member.

He alleged that the denotification was part of a conspiracy to promote private medical colleges and discourage students to acquire admission in public sector institutions.

The teacher said syndicate members questioned in which capacity Dr Asim Hussain (chairman of the provincial Higher Education Commission and former petroleum minister) had called a meeting of the heads of all public sector medical colleges in the province, while no authority had been constituted so far to regulate medical education in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014