ISLAMABAD-The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has requested all medical colleges under the public as well as the private sector to follow the policy of admitting 85% open merit seats and 15% foreign quote seats every year.
A PMDC official claimed that under this new medical and dental college admission policy, in the case of any vacant foreign or self-finance seat due to either unavailability of qualified candidates or any other reason, the seat shall be passed on to the open merit quota. The student will thereby be charged the fee and additional charges allotted for an open merit seat.
According to the official, a student will only be allowed to enroll under the foreign seats quota if he or she holds foreign or dual nationality or overseas Pakistani status and who has physically studied and passed SSC and HSSC examinations or equivalent outside Pakistan. In any other case, a candidate will be labeled ineligible for the foreign quota seat in public or private sector medical and dental colleges.
The PMDC official further stated that medical and dental institutions will announce admission process in its constituent or affiliated colleges with details of open merit and foreign quota seats simultaneously and the merit list will be displayed on university website.
The selected candidates will have to pay their college tuition fee within 7 days. Seats that are left unoccupied by foreign candidates will be transferred to the open merit sector and given to an open merit worthy candidate who will have to pay the same fee as any other local student as per schedule.
Each college is ordered to display its fee structure and online official bank number on its website. The tuition fee for local students will be RS 642,000 per annum and the fee for foreign graduates shall be USD 18000 per annum.
He reported that no private medical and dental college or its affiliating university will be allowed to advertise, process admissions in any manner, or admit students before October 31st or before the final merit list of public sector medical and dental institutions of respective province and region has been put up.
Each provincial and regional department dealing with the admissions process will every year by notification under intimation to the council, authorize one recognized public sector medical university as exam conducting university to conduct the admission test in MBBS and BDS courses in that specific province.
According to official reports, admissions for the MBBS and BDS degree programs in any medical and dental institution will be accepted strictly on the basis of merit and in accordance with all the rules and regulations laid out by the PMDC. Any admission made in violation of merit or on the basis of monetary gain in any form and reported to or noticed by the council will be considered a violation of these regulations.
