Heads of several medical and dental colleges have raised concern over loopholes found in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) framework for medical colleges. According to minutes of a meeting held on June 12, principals of medical colleges from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Rawalpindi and federal capital expressed serious concern over some “objectionable strategies” made by the council. Over 15 principals of various colleges participated in the meeting. They drafted a 20-point letter, which was then submitted to PMDC president Prof Dr Tariq Bhutta. The principals said that the self-evaluation proforma had not been provided either on the PMDC website or to the colleges, adding that the initial recognition framework needed to be revised thoroughly to make it more robust. “The last date for submitting the self-evaluation proforma (template) is June 20. This is practically impossible as such forms were not initially available,” they said. They further claimed that any regulatory change must involve a broad-based consultative process and should be drafted and prepared a few years before its actual implementation. “No discussion between PMDC members and principals of the colleges were held as it was done with medical colleges”, they regretted. The principals suggested that the PMDC should rephrase the legal requirements that colleges must be established in a building owned or leased/rented from government or any private personnel with an irrevocable lease/rent agreement of 10 years. They asked that the total covered area of the dental college must be at least 43,700 sq ft in case standalone dental college, while in case of dental college of association of the college, it should have at least 20,000 sq ft covered area. The colleges demanded that a time of three years be given to existing recognised colleges after due deliberation between the PMDC and colleges. “Besides this, a minimum of 75 dental units for 50 admissions and 100 dental units for 75 admissions are enough for student’s clinical training,” they suggested. They also suggested that the number of small group demonstration rooms should be rationalised to three with seating capacity of 20 each for 50 as well as 75 admissions and be used on sharing basis. “They should be equipped with all teaching aids. Simulation laboratory/skill lab should be effectively utilised by sharing resources and it should have 15 phantom-heads for 50 admissions and 18 for 75 admissions,” they said. The principals asked that faculty for 50 as well as 75 admissions should remain the same as per previous proforma. “However additional points for professors should be given to enhance quality of teaching. In future, the number of faculty members in basic as well as clinical dental subjects should be enhanced with minimum of at least one associate professor/professor to be mandatory,” they said. Moreover, they suggested that in the basic dental subjects one senior faculty member (assistant professor or above) was sufficient due to a shortage of senior faculty members in the country. “The faculty may be rationalised as per availability. Besides this, grading colleges and publishing such lists on the PMDC website should be deferred for the time being as this will adversely affect the colleges’ ability to improve as they might be a huge revenue loss,” they said. When contacted by Daily Times, PMDC president Prof Dr Tariq Bhutta refused to comment.