PMDC orders universities to shut unapproved medical, dental postgraduate programmes

Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has ordered several universities across the country to shut down unapproved medical and dental postgraduate programmes immediately, 24NewsHD TV reported on Wednesday. 

In a press statement issued today, Pakistan's medical education regulator warned that degrees awarded under such courses would not be registered.

The body said several institutions were running postgraduate medical and dental programmes without regulatory approval, in violation of its accreditation requirements.

The council said the universities identified in the alert included Times University in Multan, NUR International University in Lahore, Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan, Sohail University in Karachi, Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur, and Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology in Rahim Yar Khan.

Also named were the University of Faisalabad, the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Hazara University in Mansehra, and Kohat University of Science and Technology, according to the PMDC.

The regulator directed all listed institutions to discontinue the unapproved programmes immediately and barred them from advertising, offering admissions or otherwise promoting such courses without prior authorisation.

The PMDC said degrees issued by institutions running unrecognised postgraduate medical and dental programmes would not be registered.

Reporter: Babar Shehzad Turk