ISLAMABAD: Admissions to medical and dental colleges across the country have closed and seats remaining vacant in each college will be notified on April 1, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) announced on Monday.

The commission has notified that admissions to all public and private medical and dental colleges concluded on March 10 — including the period granted under its vacant seat policy — and no college or student now has a right to give or seek admission after this date.

It has also forwarded the names of students admitted by colleges and uploaded to the PMC portal to the relevant universities for verification of their credentials and certifying the admission.

The PMC announced last month that for the first time in the country’s history, over 28 per cent (5,873) seats in public sector and private medical and dental colleges could not be filled this year.

The commission then approved a special policy to fill the vacant seats for the 2021-22 session.

Under the policy, the colleges that had not uploaded the lists of admitted students were allowed to upload them by Feb 18. After the date, the PMC offered vacant seats to other eligible students seeking admissions.

According to a document available with Dawn, 1,566 seats were declared vacant in Sindh, 1,331 in Punjab, 72 in Balochistan, 58 in Islamabad and 51 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

“It will conclude the review and hearing of all complaints received from students relating to admissions by March 30, 2022,” the commission stated on Monday.

After the hearings, any admission found contrary to merit and criteria would be cancelled, it said, adding that any admission found to have been denied by a college in violation of merit would be directed for admission.

“It is clarified that the lists assembled by the authority [PMC] and forwarded to colleges pursuant to the vacant seat policy did not create a right in favour of any student to admission, as these students were only nominated by the authority with the right to admission vesting exclusively in the colleges subject to applicable rules of merit and transparency,” the commission said.

“All admitted students upon receipt of verification from the respective universities shall duly receive their PMC student registration number and access to the student online portal,” it said.

“Seats remaining vacant in each college shall be notified by the authority on April 1, 2022 where after the transfer window shall be open for first-year transfers subject to respective university rules. The transfer window for students in second to fifth years is already open and applicable since March 1, 2022,” it said.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2022