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Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) building can be seen in this image. — PMDC website/File
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), at a meeting on Thursday, failed to fix the maximum tuition fee for the educational session 2024-25 and instead decided to review the fee structure offered by private entities.
“The PMDC Council has been controversial for fixing a fee for private medical and dental colleges for the Academic Session 2024-25, as a special committee with a high-power committee has recommended. The committee recommended the annual fee 1.2 million, but the proposal was not approved by the MPC.
Expecting a potential fee cap, the Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions (PAMI) wrote a letter to the Medical Education Regulator, warning that they would not accept the roof of the tuition fee set by the PMDC, and that they did not allow the PM to pay the fee.
During the PMDC Council meeting, legal experts also suggested that the PMDC does not have the authority to determine tuition fees for private medical and dental colleges. Instead, colleges only need to be informed about these fees before the start of the educational meeting, according to the PMDC Act.
“So the PMDC Council has asked the committee to review the fee structure of private medical and dental colleges within a week and determine whether it is legitimate or not,” the PMDC Council member added. When contacted, PMDC’s acting registrar, Dr. Shyesta Faisal, claimed that she was not attending the meeting.
Earlier, a committee comprising Federal Health and PMDC officials had recommended the annual tuition fee for the educational session 2024-25 for Rs 1,212,468. This recommendation was made to increase the cost of tuition, as private companies are currently charging between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 3 million each year.
According to the secret documents available to the news, the proposed fee structure was finalized after detailed consideration, as both the federal health and the PMDC were under intense pressure to organize the sciring tuition fee in the private medical colleges of parliamentarians and parents.
The documents also revealed that a special committee and a sub -committee have been constituted to review the tuition structure, which states that many private companies are receiving excessive fees without justification. The sub -committee reviewed the past rules, noting that in 2010, private medical colleges received Rs 500,000 every year, which was later increased to Rs 600,000 in 2012.
In 2018, the Supreme Court paid an annual fee to Rs 850,000, which allowed a 5 % annual increase under 2020-21 rules, which made it Rs 9997,500. However, in recent years, private colleges have increased the tuition fee, which is now from Rs 2.5 million to Rs 3 million, which is much higher than regular limits.
The sub -committee report recommends that the proposed fee of Rs 1,212,468 be fixed for the full period of the student registration, which would prevent the institutions from increasing the mid program fees unexpectedly. The committee also demanded the implementation of rules, annual audits, and financial transparency from private colleges to ensure compliance with section 20 (7) and 20 (8) of the PMDC Act 2022.
The committee emphasized the urgent need for regulatory monitoring, which includes non -compliance and annual audit fines to ensure that the approved fee structure is implemented. In addition, it emphasized the importance of resolving complaints to resolve students and parents’ complaints about excessive fees or blasphemous allegations.
