Islamabad - Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) on Monday proposed an increase of up to Rs80,000 in the fee of private medical and dental institutes, an official said.
PMDC, in its 154th session, discussed the recommendations of the committee constituted to review the request of private medical and dental institutions for an increase in the fee of medical and dental colleges.
The meeting was presided over by President PM&DC Prof Dr Shabir Lehri.
The official statement said that private medical and dental institutions had requested to revise fee structure of private medical and dental colleges up to 1.3 million.
However, the council proposed that the fee should not be increased more than 0.8 million with a 7 per cent increase.
An official told The Nation that Council again proposed the subcommittee to negotiate with the private medical dental colleges to discuss this and other matters.
The council after a detailed discussion and several disagreements decided that a huge jump in the fee structure should not be done, as the PMDC has to safeguard the interest of the public and the students.
It was informed that in 2010 in response to suo motu order in which the Rs550,000 fee of medical dental college was implemented with 7 per cent increase in fee every year. In 2013 the fee of medical dental colleges was Rs64,2000.
However, the council proposed that the fee should not be increased from more than 0.8 million with a 7 per cent increase.
It was clearly decided that the demands of private medical and dental colleges will be considered, subject to central induction and they will not charge any extra money on the name of donations, they will ensure to provide social cooperate delivery for the patients, there shall be no aptitude test and they shall strictly follow the merit.
The council decided that if these terms will be accepted by the private medical and dental colleges only then the demands of private medical colleges will be considered in the next meeting.
The official also said that the issue of registration of 11 medical colleges was also discussed in the meeting on which it was observed that the colleges meeting the criteria could be notified. But, the cases of institutions where financial embezzlement was reported should be inquired.
Spokesperson PMDC Hina Shaukat talking to The Nation said that the fee increase is conditional and will be approved if the criteria of PMDC are met.
She said that the committee constituted for the negotiations will present this proposal to private medical institutions.
She said, “The council decided that this matter may be placed before the next Council meeting to finalise the demands.”
The council session was attended by the following members Prof Dr Shabir Lehri, Prof Dr Abid Farooqi, Dr Sania Nishtar, Dr Asad Hafiz DG Health, Surgeon General, Dr Amir Hussain, Dr Muhammad Haroon, Dr Mussarat Hussain, Dr Taj Muhammad, Pro Dr Abdul Bari, Prof Dr Eice Muhamma, Dr Imran Naseer, Dr Mangal, Prof Dr Musadaiq Khan, Prof Dr Ijaz Hassan, Dr Farukh Ijaz, Maj Gen(r)Dr Khaliq Naveed, Dr Khyaal ur rehman, Dr Feroz Jahangir, provincial health secretaries ,Dr Syed Azhar Ali Shah attended the session.
Earlier, during a Senate standing committee meeting, the parliamentarians had locked horns on the issue of fee increase of private medical institutions where the minister had favored the increase in fee structure.
rahul basharat
