Medical Colleges and Affordability

Medical colleges in Pakistan are usually funded by government. Though we have private medical colleges as well but government medical colleges in the country are more worthy in terms of medical education than others. Big cities of the country, such as, Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore have renowned medical colleges. Whereas, educational sector of Khyber Pukhtunkhua province have been devastatingly affected after military operation against terrorism.

Fortunately, the rehabilitation work has been started by the government and military Khyber Pukhtunkhua. Educational scenario of the province is also changing with time.  Recently, Chief Minister inaugurated two medical colleges in Peshawar. Directors of Nowshera and Gajju Khan Medial Colleges are directed to provide all the essential facilities and urgent affiliation of the colleges with the Khyber Medical University (KMU), along with urgent registration with the Pakistan Medical Commission - PMC.

Although the constructions of these colleges have been completed but their procurement facilities are still not completed. Chief Minister urged the authorities to make sure that all the facilities are competed before the start of next year’s academic year. This initiative taken by the government of Khyber Pukhtunkhua is worth admiring because it leads to the promotion of quality higher education in the sensitive province of Pakistan.

Other than Khyber Pukhtunkhua, Federal Government has also been trying to bring reforms in educational sector, particularly in medical education.  Pakistan Medical & Dental Council recently also restricted some private medical and dental colleges to charge extra fee from their MBBS and BDS students.

Unfortunately, from quite some time, private medical and dental colleges are trying to impose their unfair policies on medical students. They are constantly increasing the college/semester fees every year with a very great profit margin. This has caused severe problems in the lives of medical students as they have recently protested against the raise of extra medical college fee.

By the continuous improvement of government medical colleges, there is a rise in the number of medical students because students can afford medical education with reasonable fees. In order to keep their reputation and level of educational merit, private medical colleges should try to make their fees reasonable and affordable for students belonging to middle class families. These colleges should charge annual fees on year to year basis and there should be no extra charges for tuition fees. This will readily promote the standard of medical education in Pakistan.