ISLAMABAD: Another meeting held to resolve the row over admissions to private medical colleges ended without reaching any conclusion on Monday night.

The representatives of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), private medical colleges and the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (Pims) attended the meeting.

Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said he tried his best but failed to address the issue amicably.

On the other hand, the chairman of Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, Khaqan Waheed Khawaja, said private medical colleges had already approached different courts across the country against the PMDC decision. He said government departments should not try to get control of private businesses.

Private college owners say they have already approached courts against PMDC’s decision

On October 27, the council got published a notification in the Gazette of Pakistan under which admissions to private medical colleges would be made through the public sector medical universities. The universities will also collect the admission fee in order to avoid complaints against private colleges that they allegedly forced admission seekers to pay donations. However, private medical colleges opposed the move and filed petitions with different courts across the country. In the meantime, they also completed the admission process on their own.

One of the participants of the meeting requesting anonymity told Dawn that principals of the private medical colleges had been called to the meeting at Pims but their owners reached the venue instead.

“During the meeting, efforts were made to convince the colleges that students should be admitted on merit but the owners said classes were about to start so the new admission policy cannot be implemented,” he said.

“We gave a suggestion that colleges can be allowed to start classes this year if they give affidavits in writing that from the next year they would follow the merit policy of the PMDC. The owners held a meeting in a separate room and came back to say that they cannot give any assurance for the next year because they do not agree with the policy,” he said.

“The owners also said private businesses cannot be regulated by fixing fees etc. When the owners were told that if they were allowed to fix the fees on their own, tomorrow pharmaceutical companies will also start fixing prices. As a result, the meeting ended in a deadlock,” he said.

When contacted, Dr Akram confirmed to Dawn that the meeting ended without any conclusion.

“I tried to address the issue amicably. On December 3, we will publish the list of students given admission to private medical colleges through public sector universities as per the new policy of the PMDC,” he said.

When contacted, Mr Khawaja told Dawn that private medical colleges had already approached courts across the country but the council was trying to spoil the career of students.

“Every year, 90,000 students get over 60pc marks in the FSc exam but only 6,000 are admitted to government colleges. Around 12,000 students are accommodated by private colleges. Now the council is trying to get the control of the private medical colleges,” he said.

“The PMDC has no legal status as it was established through a presidential ordinance which could not sail through the parliament. So the notification issued by the council is illegal,” he said.

“How can a government university admit and send students to private colleges. Tomorrow the students may not pay the fee. Moreover, students prefer getting admission to colleges near their homes. If the council wants to ensure merit it can increase the minimum marks from the current 60pc to 80pc for admissions. Moreover, if any college demands donations from admission seekers, action should be taken against it,” he said.

Published in Dawn November 30th, 2016