SUKKUR: Expressing his dismay over the failure of the Ghulam Mohammed Mahar Medical College (GMMMC), Sukkur, and Aseefa Dental College (ADC), Larkana, to meet the pre-requisite standards for Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) recognition, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has held the institutions` heads and the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) vice chancellor responsible for the lapse.

Mr Shah apprehended that the GMMMC was deliberately being made to lag behind in the required teaching and other facilities, and presented several arguments to make his point before holding out the assurance that the essential facilities, resources and funds would be made available to the GMMMC, as well as the ADC, at the earliest.

The PMDC would be asked to send its inspection team again after all the required facilities at the two institutions were ensured, he said.

The chief minister was speaking at a meeting held at the Sukkur circuit house late on Saturday evening to discuss the issues relating to the GMMMC, which is on the verge of closure for want of adequate teaching and other essential facilities. It has been hit by a series of protests over the past few months by its students, who fear a loss of their education and degree.

`No student enrolled in the GMMMC will suf-fer any loss,` Mr Shah categorically stated, and announced that the college would continue to run with cooperation and assistance to be offered by the provincial government.

Regarding PMDC refusal to grant recognition to the GMMMC after a recent visit by its inspection team to examine the teaching facilities available and the standards maintained at the college, the chief minister said that the government had been kept in the dark about the serious issues being faced by the college. He held the SMBBMU vice chancellor and GMMMC principal responsible for the lapse. They were required to seek the required funds, equipment etc on time to ensure grant of the mandatory PMDC recognition, he remarked. The inordinate delay caused by their slacknessled to thelapse,he observed.

Earlier, SMBBMU Vice Chancellor Prof Ghulam Asghar Channa briefed the chief minister about the objections raised by the PMDC team. He said the college was facing an acute shortage of teaching staff as well as essential machinery and equipment. He claimed that there had been a lukewarm response to the advertisement seeking the services of professors, associate professors and assistant professors for the college.

Prof Channa said the college required a funding of Rs40 to 50 million for the procurement of the required machinery and equipment alone. He the teaching hospital attached to the college needed 46 more medical officers and other professionals.

`This information should have been provided to me much before the PMDC team`s visit,` the chief minister remarked, and questioned the vice chancellor`s and GMMMC principal`s slackness in this regard.

Contending the VC`s claim about lukewarmresponse from medical professionals to the advertisement offering jobs at the GMMMC, Mr Shah argued that if professors and other professionals were ready to be posted in a backward area like Lyari in Karachi, whey such people would have any objection in being posted in a city like Sukkur? `I guess this may be a lame excuse on the part of the college administration,` he said.

The chief minister observed that the GMMMC had been functioning satisfactorily and progressing well over the past 11-12 years and no issues like inadequate budget or facilities had surfaced.

It all emerged all of a sudden, he said.

Mr Shah pointed out that the budget of the Sukkur Civil Hospital had been increased three times as adequate healthcare facilities to the people was among his government`s top priorities.

`Institutions can be run efficiently when their heads and other authorities pay full attention to their management and daily worl(ing ... they face such issues when you keep sitting in your luxurious bungalows,` he told the participants of the meeting. Those present at the meeting included Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, MNA Noman Islam Shaikh, MPA Awais Qadir Shah, former MPA Dr Nasrullah Baloch, Sukkur Commissioner Abbas Baloch, DIG Kamran Fazal and Mushtaq Surhio.

Later, speaking to the media, the chief minister said that the issue of PMDC recognition for Aseefa Dental College would be discussed and resolved at a separate meeting to be convened soon.

In reply to a question, Mr Shah said his government was sincere in holding the local government elections in the province but the high court decision on delimitation had caused some confusion.

`We intend to move the Supreme Court in this regard within a couple of days,` he said.