LOWER DIR: The special assistant to chief minister on prisons, MPA Humayun Khan, has said that classes in Timergara Medical College (TMC) will be started in the current session.

He told this scribe that a high-level meeting regarding Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) approval for TMC and student admissions in the current academic session was held at Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar.

He said that elected representatives from Lower and Upper Dir districts, former deputy speaker of provincial assembly Prof Meher Taj Roghani, head of Paraplegic Centre Dr Syed Mohammad Ilyas, TMC Principal Dr Samiullah, KMU Vice-chancellor Prof Ziaul Haq and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

The lawmaker said that the meeting deliberated on requirements for PMDC approval, including college and hospital infrastructure, available medical facilities, bed capacity and faculty.

“It was decided during the meeting that all necessary measures for PMDC inspection and registration of the college would be completed within two months, paving way for commencement of classes in the current session,” he said.

He said that the participants of the meeting were informed that upgrading the 500-bed district headquarters hospital in Timergara would meet the PMDC standards. He said that a KMU team would visit the college shortly to identify deficiencies and address necessary requirements.

He stated that a special package for faculty recruitment on a temporary basis, identifying a separate site for Allied Health Sciences Institute in Lower Dir and transferring Dir Model School to KMU for establishing a Nursing and Allied Health Sciences Institute were also proposed.

Timergara Medical College was inaugurated by Pakistan Tahreek Insaf founder Imran Khan along with the then chief minister Pervez Khattak on July 4, 2015. However, classes in the college could not be started despite lapse of eight years.

The establishment of a medical college in the area was a longstanding demand of locals. The appointment of a principal to the college has sent a ray of hope to locals, who are constantly pressing the lawmaker to make the college functional.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2025