FROM ZEESHAN MIRZA
KARACHI: The row between the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and the Sindh health department has intensified after the commission has advised Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU), Karachi, not to intervene in private medical and dental college admissions. The ongoing row has deprived Karachi students of access to medical colleges.
Pakistan Medical Commission barred Jinnah Sindh Medical University from
enrolling in private colleges. In this regard, the PMC has written a letter
informing that the advertisement of admissions in private medical colleges
by the university is not only a violation of the Constitution of Pakistan
but also the law as laid down conclusively by the Supreme Court and the
Sindh High Court.
The public notice by the JSMU has unfortunately caused grave and unnecessary confusion amongst the students and, therefore, requires to be withdrawn immediately as neither the JSMU nor the admission committee or the Sindh health department is legally mandated to undertake admissions to private medical and dental colleges, the letter says.
It states that under the PMC Act 2020, admissions to the private medical
colleges is to be undertaken by the colleges directly as per the criteria
submitted in advance by each college, while the JSMU, the admission
committee, or the Sindh health department cannot by way of a notification
amend the PMC Act 2020.
“Any attempt by JSMU to undertake admissions in private medical or dental
colleges will amount to not only usurping a right of the private medical and
dental colleges but [will be] in direct violation of the PMC Act, 2020.”
