ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to hold an inquiry against the Shifa College of Medicine and Dentistry Islamabad for holding exams under an unrecognised university.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has already restrained the college from giving further admissions.

Know more: PMDC restrains Shifa College from offering admissions

According to an official statement issued by the council, President PMDC Prof Dr Masood Hameed Khan has constituted a committee which will most probably be headed by retired Justice Tariq Pervez. The committee members will consist of Prof Dr Noushad A. Sheikh, the vice chancellor Lums, and Prof Dr Mian Rasheed.

The IHC had directed the college on September 17 to stop giving admissions until further order.

The petition in this regard was filed by the students of the college as the PMDC did not register the students after the college re-affiliated itself with the unrecognised Shifa Tameer-i-Millat University. Earlier, the college was affiliated with Bahria University.

The press release added that the PMDC would produce a list of medical and dental colleges in the court which had been stopped from giving admissions or recommended to be closed down but were still admitting students.

An official of Shifa College requesting not to be identified said the college was well reputed all over the world and strictly followed merit. It was initially affiliated with the Bahria University but in 2012 through an Act of parliament was converted into the Tameer-i-Millat University.

“The bill was signed by the then president Asif Zardari after which the college sent a letter to the PMDC to notify its conversion into a university. However, for the last two years, the PMDC has been delaying the notification by raising different objections.”

He said a case was pending in the court and it was yet to decide if the PMDC was authorised to do all what had been doing.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014