PMDC to approve establishment of four medical colleges

Parliamentary Secretary Health, Dr Saeed Elahi has said all conditions have been fulfilled in order to get approval from the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) for the establishment of four new medical colleges in the province. The prescribed fee for the inspection and the relevant documents are being deposited for the new colleges which include D.G Khan Medical College, Sahiwal Medical College, Khawja Safdar Medical College, Sialkot and Gujranwala Medical College.
He said an Additional Secretary of Health Department would go to PMDC office soon and personally hand over these documents after which these colleges would soon be approved after the inspection. He said principals, teaching and other staffs have been appointed in all the four Medical Colleges while laboratory equipment and books for library have also been provided.
He said that the most important condition for the approval of these colleges was attached hospitals, which have been already approved. He said district hospitals attached with these colleges are approved by PMDC and doctors and postgraduate level doctors are completing their training and there is no hurdle in the training of under graduate level doctors in these hospitals.
Dr Elahi said that propaganda regarding these four new Medical Colleges is baseless and contrary to the facts. He said that previous governments also established medical colleges first and the approval was taken later after completing all formalities. He said that the government had started medical colleges in ordinary buildings thirty years ago which are now of international repute. He said that these four medical colleges would soon have good reputation locally and internationally.
The Parliamentary Secretary said the Punjab government would set up four more medical colleges next year so that according to the vision of Chief Minister of Punjab, students belonging to backward areas of the province could get quality education. He said that private medical colleges receive fees from Rs 5 to 10 lakh annually whereas students studying at government medical colleges have to pay only few thousand rupees. He said that Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif was determined to promote education in the province so that poor students could get higher education without any discrimination.