ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing Committee on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) on Thursday directed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to provide details about the mechanism for increasing private medical colleges’ fees. The committee met under chairmanship of Senator Sajjad Hussain Turi. The chairman said that the issue of private medical colleges’ fees had been under discussion since 2016. “So far, no final strategy has been finalised in this regard. This is regrettable,” he said. In response, PMDC officials informed the committee that the council had a comprehensive policy about increasing private medical colleges’ fees. Last month, PMDC increased the annual fees of medical college from Rs 642,000 to Rs 800,000. The fees will be revised every year according to the inflation rate. “Beside this, there will be a centralised induction policy for students. Colleges will not be allowed to take aptitude tests. Colleges will be fined Rs 20 million if they receive donations from students. Their annual intake of students will be reduced by 10 students as a penalty,” the officials said. According to sources, in the past, private medical colleges had not fulfilled a number of promises they had made, including setting aside 50 percent of their beds for free treatment. The PMDC official informed the senators that the council had constituted an impartial committee that had devised a policy under which the colleges were allowed to increase the fees. The committee was headed by PMDC President Dr Shabir Lehri. Other members were: Dr Abid Farooqi, Dr Eic Muhammad, Dr Abdul Khaliq Naveed and Dr Ejaz Hassan Khan. The committee members are also members of the PMDC Council. The committee members directed the council to present a detailed report about the policy at the next meeting. Federal Health Minister Saira Afzal Tarar said that private medical education was very costly across the world. “Fees of medical colleges in Pakistan are still far less than other countries, including India and Bangladesh,” she said. The minster said that there were several hidden and illegal ways through which some private colleges were making money. “The ministry, in coordination with the PMDC, has taken adequate measures to stop such practices by private colleges,” she said. She said that the ministry had introduced a uniformed policy that had fixed the price of admission forms/prospectuses fees at Rs 300 for each private college. Senator Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh said that the same things had been discussed last year. “However, no practical steps were taken in this regard. Implementation is also important after creating laws,” he said. Senator Ateeq said that such discussions had become useless after private medical colleges managed to increase their annual fees. “Ultimately, the colleges benefited from this and the students suffered,” he said. “The PMDC should explain to the committee on what grounds it allowed such a huge increase in the fees,” he said. The issue of 10 percent charges on purchasing medicines at Shifa International Hospital (SIH) Pharmacy also came under discussion. The SIH used to charge 10 percent on purchase of medicines for out-door and in-door patients in the hospital. The PMDC officials said that as per details provided by the SIH administration, the fee covered the service charges the hospital provided to its patients. Published in Daily Times, October 6th 2017.