QUETTA: The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), a statutory regulatory authority that maintains the official register of medical practitioners in the country, has approved the registration of all 600 students at three newly recognised medical colleges in Balochistan.

The colleges — Makran Medical College in Turbat, Jhalawan Medical College in Khuzdar and Loralai Medical College — were established by the provincial government in 2014 and were recently recognised by the PMC. The notification about the students’ registration was issued on Thursday.

The PMC earlier announced a special examination for the registration of the students studying in these colleges.

However, a high-level delegation of the Balochistan government, comprising the chief and health secretaries and the principals of medical colleges, met PMC members in February and asked the council to review this decision, Balochistan Health Secretary Hafiz Muhammad Tahir said.

In a subsequent meeting in March, it was agreed that a decision on registration would be taken after reviewing the papers and exams of the students under study.

The PMC requested the representative from Balochistan, Prof Dr Naqibullah Achakzai, to submit a report at the council’s meeting on Oct 24. In the meeting, the review report on students’ registration was approved, and the PMC later issued the notification.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2022