KARACHI, May 12: The Sindh government has ordered a probe into medical admissions given during the last five years in the government-run medical colleges in the province, it is learnt.
In the inquiry, a scrutiny of the record pertaining to admissions and examinations would be made, and the Sindh chief minister has issued directives in this regard.
A senior official at the health department said on Monday that folowing reports about bogus admissions taking place at the Sindh Medical College for long, the chief minister, on the recommendations of a government inspection team, directed setting up of an enquiry committee to verify the medical colleges and universities record.
In an earlier inquiry conducted into alleged bogus admissions in the SMC, the then governor’s inspection and evaluation team had sometime back had suggested cancellation of over 100 admissions in the SMC. It had also suggested withdrawal of results/degrees, if any, awarded to the students in question.
The team had observed in its report that the SMC teaching and administrative staff had not only received fees from fake students but had also given them certificates pertaining to attendance, tests and tutorial, although they knew that they were not bona fide students of their college and had made entry through fraud and manipulation.
In its recommendations, the inspection team had suggested removal of officials involved in the scam from their present posts and taking a disciplinary action against them.
It is learnt that the CM has also ordered that the enquiry conducted on the pattern of SMC be also initiated at other government-run medical colleges and that too by a group of officials belonging to the Chief Minister’s Inspection and Evaluation Team.
The health department official said that the inspection team had formally been informed of the CM’s desire and as such the scrutiny of over 5,500 admissions is on the cards at the Dow Medical College, Karachi; Chandka Medical College, Larkana; Peoples Medical College, Nawabshah and Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro.
It is further learnt that inspection team had been issued a letter a couple of days back by the health department. However, a source in the inspection team said although there were verbal instructions in this regard, a formal letter is still awaited.
Sources in the government said a committee of provincial ministers, constituted to look into alleged admission bungling at SMC, had also reached a decision that the competent authority be moved to order a thorough enquiry at other medical colleges to detect fake admissions to MBBS and BDS classes, if any.