ISLAMABAD, March 8: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has warned parents and students to refrain from seeking admission in unrecognized foreign medical institutions.

In an announcement, PMDC asked parents and students to avoid university/institute that was not on the list of World Directory of Medical Schools and gave a website www.who.int/intity/hrh/ wdms/en/ for guidance.

The PMDC said the Medical institutions of Kyrgyz Republic were attracting students from South Asia and Eastern countries, and among them the number of Pakistanis was the highest.

Most of such students had failed to get admission in local colleges because of low percentage in (pre-medical) examination or failed to reach the merit list. Over 400 Pakistani students, mostly selected from less developed areas were studying in Kyrgyz Republic on self-finance basis, according to an information, PMDC said.

The core matter revolves around persons/institutions who are deceiving and extorting handsome amount both in rupees and foreign exchange from students within Pakistan who intend to pursue medical education abroad. “All these activities are being done right under the nose of competent government bodies,” it said.

The PMDC also suggested to the government to initiate action against those who were fleecing, extorting huge amount of rupees and foreign exchange by misleading the students seeking admissions in medical colleges abroad including Kyrgyzistan.

It said the PMDC had been warning parents and the students not to seek admission in such institutions but unfortunately to no avail.

The tuition fees as compared to local private medical universities of Pakistan were far low besides many foreign universities had hired consultants from Pakistan to recruit students and to arrange invitations and visas for them.

Due to economical fee, the students keep on contacting them not knowing that such institutions were not approved by the regulatory bodies like Higher Education Commission (HEC).

In most cases, a student pays between $1,500 and $2,000 besides the tuition fees. Some senior students have also become partners. Many students have been deported just because of the fact that they were not able to pay substantial and more amount other than the fee that they had paid before to the consultants and contractors for their admissions.

There are few Kyrgyz Universities of good reputation for medical education, it said. Bishkek University was the only university which was recognized by the WHO.

All other universities including the Osh State University (170 Pakistani students), the Peoples Friendship University (private) Jalalabad (30 Pakistani students) the Jalalabad University and Kyrgyz international university (30 Pakistani students) do not have adequate hospital facility nor are well staffed.

Thus their degrees have no value in any part of the world including Pakistan and therefore it would be wastage of money, energy and time to take admission in these universities.

A farmer trade Representative of Kyrgyzstan in Pakistan has opened a medical Institute in Kant, a suburb of Bishkek. Named after his late father, Tentishev Satkynbay Memorial Asian Medical Institute started classes this year with only four teachers and 30 students from Pakistan. The purpose of the centre is nothing but to earn hard currency from foreign students, particularly Pakistani nationals who were easily trapped by the contractors and consultants, PMDC warned.