PESHAWAR: The government is yet to review the allocation of reserved seats for the students of Federally Administered Tribal Areas and backward areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the public sector medical and dental colleges in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The apex court had abolished all reserved seats in medical schools except the seats reserved for disabled people and students of Fata and backward areas in 2002 and directed the authorities to review the same in 2007.
Officials said that the verdict of Supreme Court had come after reservations were shown by the residents of settled areas who argued that allocation of reserved seats had been depriving them of becoming doctors despite getting higher marks in FSc examinations.
They said that reserved seats for tribal students were meant to provide opportunities to the students having domicile of Fata so that they could become doctors and serve their own people. However, situation with regard to availability of doctors in tribal areas was pathetic as the students, who got admission in medical colleges on reserved quota, were not willing to be posted in Fata, they added.
Supreme Court had ordered abolishment of quota system in medical institutions in 2002
“Another anomaly in allocation of seats is that there are only 10 per seats for students studying in Fata-based educational institutes from grade-I to intermediate level while 90 per cent admissions are availed by those, who have domicile of tribal areas, but they complete their education outside Fata. The system is complicated as it often leads to court cases among the students,” said officials.
Officials associated with the Joint Admission Committee for public sector medical and dental colleges told Dawn that poor students, who really deserved quota, often complained that it was an encroachment on their right to compete with the students, who got education in Peshawar, Kohat, Abbottabad and Mardan etc.
They said that total number of seats in the 12 medical and dental colleges of the province was 1,200 of which 162 seats were reserved for Fata and frontier regions, 39 for backward areas of the province, 12 for Afghan nationals, 109 for general self-finance, 42 for foreign self-finance and seven for Gilgit-Baltistan that left only 773 seats for merit-based admission.
They said that about 33,000 students competed for the merit-based seats through entrance test in 2017.
Officials said that the Supreme Court had strictly ordered that there should be no quota system in medical colleges as throughout the world people were admitted to medical schools purely on basis of merit but the government was yet to accord attention to that vital problem.
They said that court had directed to review the matter in 2007 and terminated 30 per cent quota including seats allotted to wards of teachers of medical colleges. Medical teachers also support the court’s directives as they argue that students getting admission on reserved seats couldn’t be intelligent enough to become good doctors and serve the people.
Health officials from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on many occasions in the meetings of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, the regulator of medical education in the country, had suggested that medical schools should be exempted from enrolling students on reserved seats.
Officials said that quota system had been started more than 60 years ago with a view to produce doctors from the backward areas and provide healthcare to the people but that hadn’t worked.
In early eighties, the medical colleges allotted 30 per cent seats to women with a view to produce more lady doctors to improve patients’ care but the quota was abolished when it became known after 10 years that the aim could not be achieved because most women got married after graduation and didn’t work.
Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2017