Bannu Medical College (BMC) students warn of ‘violent protests’

PESHAWAR: Seeking recognition of their institution by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC), the students of Bannu Medical (BMC) College on Friday threatened “violent protests” if their demands were not met.

The students, who have been on the road for the last several days, declared that they would no more remain peaceful if the government continued its delaying tactics in taking steps for recognition of their college.

The students were of the opinion that the provincial government, particularly health minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah, was aware of their problems as they held several meetings with the officials and sent letters to them. “All the time he (the minister) assured us of resolving our problem on priority basis but to no avail,” one of the students remarked.

“It is quiet hard to remain on the road while protesting in the scorching heat. But we have no other option for saving our future,” another student said. The students reminded that they studied in the college for four long years, but still their college lacked recognition by the PM&DC. They argued that their college wasn’t being recognized due to shortage of teaching staff and lack of other requirements.

“Only 20 percent facilities are available for medical education. This is the reason our college isn’t being recognized,” a student stressed. They said due to the indifferent attitude of the provincial government, the future of around 250 students studying in the college was at stake.

An educationalist said non-recognition of medical colleges had always been a problem

in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province not only in the private sector but also in the public sector.

He recalled that non-recognition problem was also faced by students of Saidu Medical College in Swat and Gomal Medical College in Dera Ismail Khan.“The same method of staging protests was adopted by the students of those two colleges three years back to mount pressure on the government and get their institutions recognized,” recalled the academician.

The professor said that students of those colleges too had come to the provincial metropolis and staged protest camps here after which the government had come into action to take steps for provision of the required facilities to get their medical colleges recognized. The situation of the private medical colleges, he stressed, was worse than those in the public sector.