Medical colleges grilled over excessive fees

The matter came up during a meeting of the standing committee, chaired by Dr Mahesh Kumar, where Health Minister Mustafa Kamal informed members that his ministry had approved the proposal to extend MDCAT results' validity to three years. He said the matter had subsequently been referred to the federal cabinet.

Committee member Dr Shazia Soomro disclosed that 45 private medical colleges were charging students more than the officially prescribed fees., some students were being asked to pay an additional Rs600,000. The president of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) -cause notices had been issued to the colleges concerned.

The committee subsequently sought their inspection reports covering the last two years. A separate exchange between the health minister and Dr Soomro over the inquiry report into the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) also marked the meeting, with the two trading heated remarks over the absence of further action.

Dr Soomro questioned the delay in implementing the findings of the PIMS inquiry and demanded an audit report detailing the utilisation of Rs22 billion provided to the hospital over the past three years.

Responding to her objections, Mustafa Kamal said the Ministry of Health had already implemented the recommendations of its own inquiry, while further investigations had been assigned to the Ministry of Interior.