LAHORE, June 11: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has announced abolition of self-finance scheme from medical colleges to ensure that only competent students get admission to these educational institutions.

According to a study conducted by the health department, the self-finance scheme was depriving a large number of talented students of admission to public medical colleges because they were not able to pay the hefty fee.

Punjab Health Secretary Anwaar A Khan told Dawn that there were around 250 students between the last student admitted on merit and the top student admitted under the self-finance scheme. Referring to the chief minister’s decision, the health secretary said it would allow at least 380 students to get admission to eight public medical colleges of the province on merit.

Answering a question, Khan said the revenue generated through the self-finance scheme was Rs100 million to Rs120 million, which was only peanuts compared to the provincial health budget of Rs15 billion.

The chief minister announced abolition of the self-finance scheme from medical colleges while talking to senior journalists from the print and electronic media at Chief Minister's Secretariat on Wednesday.

The chief minister said the provision of health care, education and security was the prime responsibility of a government and that incumbent rulers were trying to fulfil this obligation. He said the self-finance scheme destroyed professional institutions. He said that rejecting an eligible candidate simply because of his poverty and giving preference to an undeserving, but rich candidate was a “grave social injustice”. He said the government would refrain from adopting a lavish lifestyle.

Sharif said the formation of coalition governments at the centre and the provincial level was “a unique experience” in Pakistan’s history, adding that it was the result of the mandate people gave to the political parties against the dictatorship in the Feb 18 general election.

The chief minister said there was a “consensus of opinion between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the reinstatement of deposed judges”. He said Nawaz Sharif and the late Benazir Bhutto were united against dictatorship at the time of imposition of emergency and suspension of judges on Nov 3 last year. He said both leaders had a contact on Dec 27 shortly before Ms Bhutto was assassinated and decided to evolve a joint strategy against the former rulers’ election rigging plan.

Sharif told journalists that the administration had been told to deploy people-friendly officers to maintain peace during the long march. He said PML-N workers had been told again and again to remain peaceful and cooperate with the administration. He said PML-N workers would hold a peaceful protest and not indulge in violence or agitation.