PMDC to conduct inspection of medical & dental colleges across Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has now decided to conduct inspections of all medical and dental colleges in the country-Specifically, both public and private institutions.

The basic aim is to formulate standards for colleges, infrastructure, and faculty quality-masters trainers will supervise the process and train inspectors for the on-ground evaluations.

During the inspections, the PMDC will assess these institutions on the overall quality of education and facilities available. However, in compliance with the regulations, no immediate consequences will be inflicted on those institutions; they will be given a deadline of six months to bring the college standards to a reasonable level.

Hitherto, their admission process will not be held back, thus giving low-quality colleges time to earlier receive a penalty.

It comes after the PMDC reportedly banned private medical and dental colleges from collecting tuition fees last month. That ban was imposed after the Senate Committee announced that the collection of fees would not be allowed until the Medical Education Committee submitted its recommendations.

The Committee, chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, is currently reviewing many aspects and challenges for private medical universities and colleges. It’s worth noting that in the last five years, private medical colleges have been receiving over Rs15 million in fees.

In this way, the PMDC decides to conduct inspections and ban tuition fee collection, as this is a step towards regulating the medical and dental colleges in the state to meet required standards and provide quality education to students.