LAHORE, Oct 3: The University of Health Sciences has reminded the private medical colleges seeking affiliation with it to sign the affidavit that they will surrender 10 per cent of their annual income to the university.

The reminders have been issued to over a dozen private medical colleges, which had applied for affiliation once again on plain papers.

Only one private medical college has signed the affidavit so far to become eligible to get affiliation. The college has been inspected by the UHS’ affiliation committee, which has yet to take decision in this regard.

Earlier, the UHS had sent its “rules for the affiliation of the medical institutions” to the public and private medical colleges on plain papers.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has directed the health department to submit a report on the issue of the UHS’ demand of 10 per cent of the income share from respective private and public sector medical colleges offering seats on a self-finance basis.

The health minister, Dr Tahir Ali Javed, had also reportedly sought a detailed report from the department on the issue in the first week of September. However, the department has yet to comply with his orders.

The UHS had started its campaign earlier last month to ask the private medical colleges to sign affidavits, which, they said, was a prerequisite to seeking affiliation. They had been asked to pay 10 per cent amount of their total receipts collected on account of fees from students, in addition to Rs1 million that every institution would be required to contribute to the university’s endowment fund for each discipline.

The private medical institutions, read the rules, would also submit financial statements indicating the existing and likely revenue sources, especially the investment made by the owners/proprietors. Financial statements would also reflect expenditure already incurred on establishing the infrastructure of the institutions and likely to be incurred during their operation, the rules added.

The private medical colleges are strongly resisting the UHS’ arbitrary decision to demand 10 per cent share from their total annual receipts, Rs1 million endowment fund and other charges, and income information. Some college representatives had also made representation to the Punjab government against the UHS’ policy.

Some of the public sector colleges offering admissions on a self-finance basis have also responded to the UHS that the university and the colleges were the government institutions, and, therefore, there was no logic in one institution’s asking for a 10 per cent of the income share from another.

When contacted, UHS affiliation committee chairman Prof Dr Sibtul Hasnain said the university vice-chancellor was the right person to give comments on the issue.

UHS VC Prof Dr Malik Husain Mubashar, however, was not available for comments.