National Assembly health committee seeks inspection reports and action over alleged excess fees as MDCAT result validity extension awaits federal cabinet approval.
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Health has expressed concern over delays in extending the validity of Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) results to three years and sought action against 45 private medical colleges allegedly charging students fees beyond officially approved limits.
During a meeting chaired by Dr Mahesh Kumar on Wednesday, the committee was informed that 45 private medical colleges had allegedly collected additional fees from students, with some institutions reportedly demanding up to Rs600,000 beyond the officially approved charges.
Health Minister Mustafa Kamal told the committee that the Ministry of Health had approved a proposal to extend the validity of MDCAT results to three years from the existing duration. However, he said the proposal had subsequently been forwarded to the federal cabinet for consideration.
The committee also examined complaints concerning alleged violations of the approved fee structure by private medical institutions.
Committee member Dr Shazia Soomro raised questions about the additional amounts being charged to students and sought an explanation for the alleged violations.
The president of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) informed the committee that show-cause notices had been issued to the institutions involved.
Following the briefing, committee members requested inspection reports of private medical colleges covering the past two years to assess the alleged overcharging and examine whether the institutions were complying with regulatory requirements.
The meeting also witnessed a heated exchange between Health Minister Mustafa Kamal and Dr Soomro over the investigation into administrative and financial affairs at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
Dr Soomro questioned the lack of further action following the inquiry’s findings and demanded a detailed audit report explaining how Rs22 billion allocated to the hospital over the past three years had been spent.
She called for greater scrutiny of the hospital’s financial management and sought details of expenditure against the allocated funds.
Responding to her concerns, Mustafa Kamal maintained that the Ministry of Health had already taken action on the recommendations of its own inquiry.
He added that responsibility for conducting further investigations had been assigned to the Ministry of Interior.
The committee’s discussions covered two major issues affecting the medical education and healthcare sectors: the proposed extension of MDCAT result validity and complaints about additional fee collection by private medical colleges.
The request for two years of inspection reports is expected to provide the committee with information to examine the institutions’ compliance with approved regulations, while the federal cabinet’s consideration remains pending on the proposed MDCAT validity extension.
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