LAHORE: The Punjab government has fixed a $20,000 admission fee for the children of overseas Pakistanis intending to study in the public or private medical and dental colleges of the province.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to take important decisions relating to the province’s health sector here on Friday.

The meeting said passing of the MDCAT is mandatory for admission to the government medical colleges. “In case of private medical colleges, candidates will have to deposit one-third of the total admission fee with the University of Health Sciences (UHS), once their names appear in the private college list.

However, after the issuance of the final merit list of private medical and dental colleges, the UHS will transfer one-third of the collected fee to thecollege, where the students seeking admission would themselves deposit the remaining fee,” it said.

The CM agreed to a proposal, suggesting compulsory service after postgraduate training in private hospitals.

She said as per demand for specialists, the trainee doctors would be sent for specialisation in the relevant fields.

She directed to devise a foolproof and transparent method to treat patients in the Mayo Hospital Co-Ablation Centre to provide relief to cancer patients.

She approved a proposal to build medical blocks in public universities instead of a separate building for a new medical college in Punjab.

She also approved boards of management of various institutions in the province.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2025