ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has opposed the seven per cent raise in the tuition fees of students of private medical colleges and decided to reverse the decision. According to an official of Ministry of National Health Services, the authority will approve the old fees structure with annual tuition fees of Rs 642,000 per student and $18,000 for overseas Pakistanis. He said that the decision of this fees increase was approved by the previous PMDC council members last year, according to which private medical colleges were being charged Rs 689,714 for general seats while $19,260 for overseas Pakistanis seats. He also said that the newly elected PMDC President Dr Shabir Lehri has decided to immediately reverse this decision and the matter was placed in the agenda of next council meeting for approval. After the decision, students would pay old fees of Rs 642,000 while overseas Pakistanis would pay $18,000 from next year’s admission. He said that the council will take action against private medical colleges on charging new fees. He added that the council has also started reviewing decisions of previous council and the inspection was being conducted of those medical colleges which were approved by previous PMDC council. Similarly, notices would be issued to medical colleges on violation of PMDC rules and regulations. He said that the fee structure in private medical colleges would be strictly monitored by the PMDC while overcharging by students on the name of donation would be checked immediately. Foreign seats in public and private medical colleges would be filled transparently and the PMDC will ensure that there is no misuse of these seats for earning purpose, the official said. He added that the PMDC has decided to revise admission policy for public and private medical and dental colleges to induct students on merit basis. He said that entry test for medical colleges would be centralized at provincial and federal level and colleges would follow the merit list issued by their affiliated university after taking entry test exam. It was decided that eligibility criteria for public and private sector medical and dental colleges should be strictly followed to avoid the substandard medical education and doctors in the country. Similarly, the curriculum would be in line with future professional demands of doctors so that they could serve in rural deprived areas. National Examination Board (NEB) exam for foreign medical graduates would be made further standardized and transparent. He said that it was decided that certain measures would be taken to meet the faculty deficiencies particularly in basic science subjects to improve quality of medical education. Private sector would be bound to open medical and dental colleges in those locations where there is need of medical and dental colleges, he added. He also said that training of inspectors, who inspect the medical colleges, would be ensured while medical teachers would be trained by universities to meet the international standards.