LAHORE, Sept 8: The University of Health Sciences is all set to conduct MBBS third professional examination for its affiliated colleges from Wednesday (tomorrow) despite the fact that the federal health ministry has yet to include its name and qualifications in the relevant schedules of the PMDC Ordinance, 1962, and formally notify it in the official gazette.
Meanwhile, the Punjab University has announced that it will hold this examination only for its two affiliated colleges — King Edward Medical College and Fatima Jinnah Medical College — from the same day.
When contacted, PU registrar Col Masoodul Haq said the UHS had conveyed to the PU that the PMDC and the ministry of health had notified inclusion of its name and qualifications in the PMDC Ordinance for the award of qualifications, which were being awarded by the PU, Bahauddin Zakariya University and Islamia University.
He said the UHS had also maintained that the government’s notification had made the Supreme Court’s order ineffective. The UHS had also conveyed this information to the Punjab governor.
Col Haq said the matter was settled now, and the PU was not seeking any further advice on the issue from the governor.
A few days ago, a delegation of students from the Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, had met the chief minister and apprised him of their grievances. The CM had reportedly assured the students that he would talk to the PU on the issue.
A majority of the PMC students refused to fill their admission forms for the examinations to be conducted by the UHS, and entertain its officials, who had visited the college to get the forms.
The deputy director-general of health, Dr Munir Abro, told this reporter that the health ministry had yet to issue any notification regarding the inclusion of the UHS’ name and qualifications in the relevant schedules of the PMDC Ordinance, 1962.
He said the health ministry had only written a letter to the UHS on Sept 3, stating that the “UHS will be deemed to be included in Schedules I, III and V, notified under the Sections 11, 16 and 18, respectively, of the PMDC Ordinance 1962, along with the other universities mentioned in the said schedules.”
The ministry, he said, had sent the letter in response to the PMDC’s recommendations that the UHS’ name and qualifications to be awarded by it may be included in schedules of the ordinance.
Dr Abro said the letter should not be considered as a notification, as it was issued as a part of the ministry’s procedure to include the UHS’ name and qualification in the PMDC Ordinance through the competent authority.
