Health minister terms hike in medical colleges fees ‘illegal’, promises reversal

ISLAMABAD: As private medical colleges have started charging their fees as per the revised structure, caretaker Health Minister Dr Nadeem Jan has said that the unprecedented increase in the fees is illegal and the ministry will ensure that the decision is reversed.

Speaking at a press conference along with caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi at the Press Information Department on Tuesday, the caretaker health minister recalled that during the first interaction with the media, he had mentioned that the fees charged by medical colleges were exorbitant. At the time, the caretaker minister had said that a committee was established to rationalise the fee structure.

“I got a recommendation from a committee about the maximum fees [for medical colleges] but I rejected these recommendations and directed it to reduce the fee. However, the colleges increased the fee unilaterally, which does not have any legal status. I have directed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to revert the decision and issue letters to the colleges,” the caretaker minister said.

According to the caretaker minister, the colleges increased the fee after the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), which was abolished by the PML-N led coalition government, had allowed the colleges to increase the fees on their own.

“These colleges increased the fees by using an order of the defunct PMC. We are categorising the colleges and fees will be fixed as per the facilities available in the colleges,” he said, promising there would be a five per cent quota for unprivileged students as well.

It is worth mentioning that the committee established on the directions of the minister had suggested that the maximum fee should be Rs 1.9 million per annum but Dr Jan rejected the suggestion and sought further reduction in the fees. However, the colleges increased the fees above Rs1.9 million.

As per the documents available with Dawn, the annual fee of Akhtar Saeed Medical and Dental College Lahore for MBBS was around Rs1.8 million but for the upcoming year starting next month, the college will charge over Rs2.6 million.

HBS Medical and Dental College Islamabad will charge over Rs2.2 million as compared to Rs1.55 million for the current year. Foundation University Medical College has announced fees of Rs1.6 million; last year, it charged Rs1.58 million from Pakistani students. CMH Lahore Medical and Dental College and Institute of Dentistry Lahore (MBBS) have announced to charge Rs2.2 million as compared to Rs1.75 million for the current year.

Shalamar Medical and Dental College will charge Rs2.1 million compared to Rs1.65 million for the current year. Islamabad Medical and Dental College has been charging Rs1.6 million for the current year’s MBBS programme but it will charge Rs2.1 million for the next year.

Shifa College of Medicine Islamabad has increased its fees from Rs1.4 million to Rs1.7 million for MBBS. The Aga Khan University Karachi is charging Rs2.6 million for the current year but has announced annual fees of over Rs3 million for the upcoming year for its MBBS programme. Fazaia Medical College, Islamabad has increased fees from about Rs1.4 million to Rs1.6 million while Rehman Medical College Peshawar has increased fees from Rs1.5 million to Rs1.7 million.

Global Health Security Conference

Meanwhile, caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said that Pakistan was going to organise the Global Health Security Conference (GHSC) on Wednesday (today). “The conference will be regarding global health which has nothing to do with politics. There are so many discrepancies in Pakistan’s health plan. We want to ensure that every person should have the facility of ambulance and treatment. During Covid-19 rich countries had access to vaccines but poor countries suffered. We want to upgrade the technology of vaccine equity.”

Dr Jan said the health ministry would play its role to increase vaccine production within the country.