By Ikram Junaidi

Copyright dawn

ISLAMABAD: After realising a financial blunder amounting to Rs200 million, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has begun deliberations on how to recover the amount from institutions that started postgraduate programmes in the last two years.

According to an official of the council, the matter will be referred to the Postgraduate Medical Education Committee (PMEC) to look into it.

As per documents, available with Dawn, the issue was highlighted in August 2025 when a university located in Karachi requested to register/recognise 20 postgraduate programmes. Deputy Registrar Dr Habibullah pointed out that the university did not submit the onetime Comprehensive Inspection Fee (CIF) of Rs800,000 for each programme.

Dr Habibullah wrote a letter, available with Dawn, to the university to pay the fee. However, after an interaction with the university it was revealed that the PMDC earlier had not charged any such fee for the registration of courses.

Entire amount will be recovered and deposited in council’s account, says official

A senior official of the council, requesting anonymity, said upon the reply of the university, it was decided to check the documents.

“We were shocked to see that during the last two years almost 20 universities had applied and got their postgraduate courses recognised, but not a single one paid CIF – Rs800,000 for each of the programmes,” he added.

“So, Dr Habibullah wrote a letter to the registrar PMDC Dr Wali Khan seeking a clarification. Dr Wali stated in writing [available with Dawn] that the amount had to be received as it was mentioned in the rules,” he said.

It is worth mentioning that PMDC not only regulates medical and dental colleges but also accredits postgraduate programmes under the PMDC Act.

As per PMDC Post Graduate Regulations 2023, every university has to pay Rs300,000 as secretariat charges (per course), Rs 800,000 as CIF (per course), Rs100,000 as application fee (per course) and Rs150,000 as inspector charges (per course).

“However, after analysing the documents of last two years it was revealed that although other charges were received by PMDC, CIF was not charged from any university. The accumulative amount has surpassed Rs200 million,” he claimed.

“Over the years, PMDC has accredited numerous postgraduate institutes, producing thousands of graduates who are considered the cream of the nation’s medical community. For these accreditations, a notified inspection fee is legally required from each institution, covering secretarial and administrative charges for dispatching inspection teams.

However, it has now surfaced that around 20 postgraduate institutes were accredited without ever paying the mandatory Comprehensive Inspection Fee,” he said.

“It is strange that the amount was not charged during the tenure of as many as three different registrars. We demand that the federal government take immediate and drastic steps, not only to recover this colossal loss but also to hold those responsible accountable,” he demanded.

When contacted, a senior official of the PMDC, who requested anonymity, said the matter appeared to have been overlooked but would be addressed soon.

“We are considering referring the issue to PMEC for further investigation. I can assure you that not a single rupee will remain with any university, and the entire amount will be recovered and deposited into the Council’s account,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2025