LAHORE, Nov 6: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has revoked all the MBBS and BDS admissions by 15 private institutions in violation of its rules, Dawn has learnt.

The PMDC has categorically declared all admissions done before the Oct 31 deadline (for the session 2012-13) illegal, strictly directing the medical and dental institutions in question to re-advertise the admission criteria in compliance with the Amendment Act 2012, an official privy to the development said.

“These colleges will have to advertise the admissions process for MBBD/BDS again and make admissions in strict compliance with the PMDC rules in order to avoid invoking Section 25 of the PMDC (amendment) Act 2012 which amended the Section 22 of the PMDC Ordinance 1962,” the official said.

The official said it was for the first time that the council has awarded major punishment (cancellation of admissions) to private sector medical institutions for violating admission rules.

PMDC rule for admission to MBBS/BDS clearly states that all the private medical and dental institutions in the country shall advertise admission of students only after the determination of final order of merit by the respective provincial testing authorities or Oct 31, whichever is earlier.

They will not conduct their own entry test and shall form final merit by utilising the Provincial/government/NTS test result in their province/territory. However, they are allowed to conduct an aptitude test and interview as per these rules.

The official said PMDC Adviser Prof Dr Khalida Waheed had conveyed to the private colleges through official correspondence and advertisements not to advertise the admission process before the deadline. The Council has widely advertised the amended criteria for MBBS/BDS admissions in private and public colleges in the national press.

He said the University of Health Sciences (UHS) had also recommended action against the private medical and dental colleges for conducting illegal admissions before the deadline.

A week ago, the UHS had dispatched to the PMDC the advertised material and other evidences of illegal admissions done by these private institutions in Punjab before October 31 in violation of council’s regulations and court verdicts. It stated that some of the private institutions had completed admission process even in August.

The UHS has further intimated the PMDC that the medical institutions in question had not only completed admission process but also charged fees from the students at a time when the same (admission process) was at the initial stage in the public sector institutions.

The medical and dental colleges which have been found violating the PMDC admission criteria include Akhtar Saeed Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Azra Naheed Medical College, Lahore, Multan Medical & Dental College, Multan, Shalamar Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Rashid Latif Medical College Lahore, Yusra Medical & dental College, Islamabad, Margalla College of Dentistry Rawalpindi, CMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry, Lahore Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Islamic International Medical College, Rawalpindi, Foundation University Medical College, Rawalpindi, Central Park Medical College, Lahore and Sharif Medical and Dental College, Lahore.