ISLAMABAD: Parwarsha Farooq and her family were very confident that she will get admission into a public medical college after she secured 87.6pc marks overall.

However, even after scoring 970 marks in the matric exams and 991 in intermediate, she did not manage to get into any of the government run medical colleges.

`Parwarsha is the most intelligent child in our family and everyone was sure she will become a doctor. It was a shock for the whole family to know that she could not even meet the merit for the medical colleges in DG Khan and Quetta,` her uncle Mohammad Naeem said.

Talking to Dawn, he said that just few years ago, students would get into some of the best colleges in the country by attaining an 80pc result.

`We can also not af ford to send her toa private medical college due to the large fees,` he said, The merit list for medical colleges, which is available with Dawn, shows that the last student to get into the King Edward Medical College had attained a 92.4pc result.

The last student to get into the Rawalpindi Medical College had an 89.4pc result and the last student to be admitted into the Bolan Medical College Quetta had an 88pc result.

Many students who were not able to get into public sector medical colleges have been trying to get into private medical colleges, where they have to pay large fees as well as donations.

Sabir Hussein, who attained 899 marks in matric and 836 in intermediate, is in the process of negotiating the money he has to donate to a college in Islamabad in order to be given admission.

Talking to Dawn, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Member Executive Dr Amir Hussein Bandeshasaid that the merit requirements for private and public sector colleges have increased due to two reasons.

`First, students score higher and they study harder and the second reason is that there are more objective type questions in exams, due to which students score better,` he explained.

When asked about private medical colleges demanding donations from students, he said he was aware of the problem and that action will soon be taken against these colleges.

`We sent a letter to a college in Peshawar on Nov 4, advising it to follow the PMDC`s directions. Students should lodge complaints if a college demands a donation,` he said.

The letter, which is available with Dawn, says that a student had complained about the high fee charged by the college and that the college administration has been directed to charge the fee fixed by the council.