ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) committee scrutinised nine applications for new medical colleges, of which four were returned to the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) due to gross deficiencies.

Minor deficiencies were also noted in the other five applications and the ministry has been requested to complete the applications and send them to the council.

PMDC Registrar Dr Azhar Ali Shah said the presentations and physical evaluations of colleges will be started as soon as the ministry sends in the required documents.

NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh said the applications will be referred to the scrutiny committee of the ministry and appropriate action will be taken after evaluation.

The Ministry of NHS forwarded 20 applications for new medical and dental colleges on June 30 to the council for registration. According to Mr Sheikh, the ministry had received 51 applications but only forwarded 20 to the council after detailed evaluation.

According to the list of applications, which is available with Dawn, 14 of the applications were for colleges to be established in Punjab, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two in Sindh and one in Islamabad.

The PMDC established a committeeon July 21 to scrutinise the legal and financial matters and documents of all the applicant medical and dental colleges. The committee is headed by the PMDC President Prof Dr Shabir Lehri and its members are Prof Dr Abid Faroogi, Dr Shafigur Rehman, Dr Amir Hussein Bandesha, Dr Mohammad Haroon and Dr Shafigur Rehman.

The committee has to complete the scrutiny and inspections of the colleges by the end of September and will submit its report to the council by the end of October.

The council will then forward the application to the ministry on Nov 1 to notify the colleges in the Gazette of Pakistan.

PMDC Registrar Dr Shah told Dawn that so far the applications of nine medical colleges have been scrutinised and that deficiencies were observed in all applications.

`There were gross deficiencies in the applications of the Jhelum Medical College, Malakand Dental College, Swat Medical College and Hashmat Dental College. Some of these colleges did not have intent letters from the universities they will be affiliated with and others did not have bank guarantees,` he said.

He said that that after the remaining five colleges submit the required details, they will be called for giving presentations. Dr Shah added that the remaining 11 applications will be evaluated soon and that college inspections will be started soon after.