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Students earlier denied admission to FMDC will now be admitted

By Ikram Junaidi 2015-07-09
ISLAMABAD: Thanks to the intervention by President Mamnoon Hussain, the 100 students denied admission to Federal Medical and Dental College (FMDC) may be admitted within the next few days.

The decision to admit the students who had qualified but were refused seats, was made in a meeting chaired by President Hussain at the presidency on Wednesday. National Health Services (NHS) minister, secretary, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) President, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (Pims) vice chancellor and secretary cabinet participated in the meeting.

Students sat for the admission test, on April 12 administered by the National Testing Service and the list of successful candidates was circulated on April 22.

Since then the students repeatedly contacted the F MDC and PMDC man-agement for admission but they were not entertained. The students protested and said that while waiting to be admitted to the college they qualified for, they missed the opportunity to be admitted elsewhere and would now have to waste an academic year.

Meanwhile, the PMDC objected to the incomplete faculty and lack of other facilities at the FMDC, which does not have its own building, and ordered the college to stop admitting more students.

On Wednesday, during meeting it was decided that priority should be given to students as their future was at stake.

NHS Minister Saira Afzal Tarar told Dawn that during the meeting, the PMDC president said that four vacancies for the professors of basic sciences are vacant at the FMDC.

`However, the Pims management said that the summary for the appointment of these faculty members has been sent to the prime minister`s of fice and the appointments would be made as soon as the prime minister returns to the country,` she said.

The minister said that because President Mamnoon Hussain had intervened in the matter, PMDC President Masood Hameed agreed to provisionally allow the FMDC to admit students, on the guarantee that all deficiencies would be removed within a month.

Ms Tarar said that it has beenagreed that students will be admitted. However, it would not be easy to hire faculty members because private colleges offer around Rs400,000 per month to faculty members, while public sector colleges cannot pay as much.

PIMS VC Dr Javed Akram told Dawn that he was making efforts for the last many months to resolve the issue and then requested President Hussain to intervene.

`Most deficiencies have already been removed and others will be removed within a month. I hope admissions can be completed within a few days,` he said.

NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh said the purpose of the meeting was to find a solution for the issue of the F MDC`s recognition and af ter the VC Pims`s undertaking, it is expected that students will not have to suffer anymore.

A PMDC of ficial, who is not authorised to speak on record, said that FMDC should ensure that it is fully equipped and a full-time head should also be appointed because colleges cannot run on ad hoc arrangements.

Parents Action Forum President Sarwar Aizaz appreciated that the issue of the students` admission has finally reached a conclusion.

`FMDC is the only public sector medical college in Islamabad so it is important for this college to function well,` he said.