Standing Committee Proposes Lowering Medical College Merit to Fill Vacant Seats

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health has proposed reducing the passing marks to 50 percent if medical college seats remain vacant even after lowering the merit criteria.

The meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on National Health was held under the chairmanship of Mahesh Kumar, where complaints regarding excessive fees being charged by some medical colleges were also discussed.

The committee chairman said medical colleges could charge annual fees of up to Rs1.8 million, but complaints had been received that some institutions were charging more than the permitted amount. He directed that details of the medical colleges allegedly charging excessive fees be shared with the committee.

The chairman noted that seats remained vacant even after the merit criteria had been lowered. He suggested considering a 50 percent passing threshold and reducing the percentage of difficult questions in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) entrance test.

No College Can Increase Fees at Its Own Discretion

Federal Health Minister said 61 medical colleges had applied for permission to increase their fees. However, no medical college could raise fees at its own discretion, he clarified.

According to the minister, only 35 of the 61 colleges had fulfilled the requirements for a fee increase. Colleges that failed to meet the prescribed conditions would not be allowed to increase their fees.

The PMDC president told the committee that notices had been issued to colleges against which complaints of excessive fees had been received.

Committee member Mustafa Kamal said vacant seats were also a concern for the committee, arguing that colleges charging around Rs3.5 million in fees had no vacant seats. He said if high fees were the main issue, seats at the more expensive colleges should also have remained vacant.

The PMDC president further informed the committee that 468 seats had been increased in government medical colleges in Punjab, while 315 seats had been added for the former FATA region.

When the committee chairman asked how many seats had been increased in Sindh, the PMDC president said no additional seats had been allocated to the province because Sindh had not applied for an increase.