Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Thursday barred private medical colleges countrywide from advertising admissions until further notice.

During hearing of a suo motu case on exorbitant fees charged by medical colleges at the apex court’s Lahore registry, officials from the Federal Investigation Agency informed the court that Rs 745 million had been successfully recovered and returned to the students. The agency pleaded the court to issue directives to the University of Health Sciences to constitute a centralised admissions policy.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar expressed satisfaction at the recovery of fees from the medical colleges and remarked that the court wants quality doctors emerging from the country. People like shopkeepers have entered into the profession of running medical colleges, he remarked. He lamented that medical colleges have been extracting as much as Rs 3.4 million from students in fees, adding that the court also wanted medical colleges to be able to meet their expenses themselves.

The chief justice remarked that he is going on a week-long leave and will resume from July 30.

During a hearing earlier in March, the Supreme Court had ordered all medical colleges across the country to return collected fees in excess of Rs 850,000 to students within 15 days. The chief justice had warned of action against medical colleges not complying with the court orders.

Published in Daily Times, July 13^th 2018.