ISLAMABAD -  The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will probe the issue of granting no-objection certificates (NOCs) to medical colleges lacking requisite facilities and faculty.

“Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has taken notice of media reports that some medical colleges have been issued NOCs despite the fact that they lacked the required facilities to run MBBS classes, and the FIA has been directed to probe the case,” a spokesperson for the ministry said.

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) issues the licence or the NOC to a medical college after taking into account that the applicant institute meets the required criteria.

“The matter should be probed as to how some medical colleges were permitted to play with the future of the medical students and the lives of the patients,” the spokesperson said while quoting the minister.

“It should be investigated whether this is the negligence of the relevant authority or there was some connivance of its officials in this illegality,” the minister directed the FIA.

Meanwhile, the FIA has started a probe into the illegal sale and transplantation of human organs by organised gangs in connivance with some doctors.

The interior minister has asked the FIA to start a crackdown on illegal centres of organs transplantation and take action against the facilitators of such illegal business.

The FIA would report both the cases to the interior ministry within 15 days.