The new ordinance, 'Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance 2019' gives unlimited powers to the private medical colleges in the country to charge fees as per their choice. This will certainly impact the medical students, as private medical colleges fee will increase. The same had been observed prior to the induction of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council ordinance 2019. PMDC ordinance was introduced to put an end to the unlimited increase of private medical colleges fee issues and irregularities in their admission criteria.
Private Medical colleges has also been given free hand to give extra marks to the candidates for their own tests and interviews. Private medical colleges will be allowed to appoint their own faculty member to conduct tests and/or interviews, hence they can give extra marks in their tests or interviews.
With the promulgation of the ‘Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance, 2019’ unlimited autonomy has been given to private medical and dental colleges as they will now be able to charge fees of their choice.
Here are a few powers given to the Private Medical colleges under PMC Ordinance 2019
- Private Medical colleges can conduct their own interviews and extra marks will be allocated in the merit
- Private medical colleges can set their own fee structure, although they will have to mention the fee in their advertisement
- admission to a private college would be in accordance with the criteria and requirements stipulated by the private college at least one year in advance of the admission, including any additional entrance test as may be conducted by a private college subject to any condition imposed by the relevant university to which the college is affiliated:
- Number of faculty members will be decided by the university, with which medical colleges are affiliated. Prior to this PMDC has set a criteria and minimum number of faculty members. It is pertinent to mention here that many medical colleges are affiliated with their own universities. Hence giving them a chance to appoint as many faculty members as they want
These colleges have been allowed to give marks or points for additional tests such as interview of students. Rather than following directives of the newly formed Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), they will now be able to appoint faculty members on the directions of universities they are affiliated with.
NLE under PMC ordinance 2019
Section 19 of the ordinance states that After March 2020, students after clearing the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) will have to clear the National licensing Exam (NLE) to start practice. Earlier that requirement was only for foreign graduates.
It is pertinent to mention that only a small percentage of students pass NLE exams every year conducted by respective authority. Most of the times passing percentage of NLE exams remains lower than 10%. So medical students can expect one to two years gap after MBBS for passing NLE exams.
Medical (MBBS and BDS) Admission criteria under PMC ordinance 2019
- All candidates will have to clear the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) to get admission in medical or dental colleges
- Only a single admission test would be conducted across the country.
- Admission to medical or dental programmes conducted by public colleges would be regulated as per the policy of provincial governments.
- Admission to a private college would be in accordance with the criteria and requirements stipulated by the private college at least one year in advance of the admission, including any additional entrance test as may be conducted by a private college subject to any condition imposed by the relevant university to which the college is affiliated:
- It states that the major controlling authority of the college will be the university with which it is affiliated.
