NA Health Committee Questions Medical College Fee Hikes, PMDC Performance

Only 35 of 61 Colleges Cleared to Raise Fees, Says Federal Health Minister

The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Health met on Thursday to take up a cluster of long-standing complaints in Pakistan's medical education sector: unchecked fee hikes at private medical colleges, seats lying vacant across institutions, and questions over how effectively the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) is regulating the system.

Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal set the tone early in the session, telling committee members that no medical college has the authority to increase its fees on its own. According to the minister, 61 medical colleges across the country had formally applied for permission to raise their fees this year. Of those, only 35 institutions were found to meet the standards required for approval, meaning the remaining applicants were turned down.

The statement pushes back against a pattern students and parents have complained about for years: colleges quietly hiking tuition without any documented justification, leaving families to either pay up or lose a hard-won seat.

Committee Members Press on Vacant Seats and Regulatory Gaps

Committee Chairman Mahesh Kumar Malani, along with other members present at the meeting, used the session to raise two connected concerns — the persistence of high fees at private medical colleges and the number of seats that remain unfilled despite heavy demand for medical education in Pakistan. Members also questioned PMDC directly on how it has been performing as the sector's regulator, a topic that has drawn criticism in parliament before.

The scrutiny reflects a broader frustration: while thousands of qualified students compete for limited medical seats every year, some colleges still report vacancies, raising questions about admission processes, affordability, and how transparently seats are advertised and filled.

PMDC Says Notices Already Issued to Overcharging Colleges

Responding to the committee's concerns, the PMDC president said the council has already taken action against institutions found to be charging fees beyond approved limits, confirming that notices have been issued to such colleges. He also updated the committee on the seat situation in public-sector medical colleges, stating that the number of available seats has been increased.

This puts PMDC in the position of having to show, in future sessions, that these notices translate into actual fee rollbacks and not just paperwork — something committee members are likely to follow up on.

Nursing Council Announces Full Digitisation of Inspection System

The meeting also touched on nursing education, an area that often gets less attention than medical colleges but faces similar oversight challenges. Representatives of the Nursing Council informed the committee that the system used to inspect nursing colleges and handle complaints against them is now being fully digitised.

Once complete, the shift is expected to make it easier to track inspection records and complaints against nursing institutions online, rather than relying on manual, paper-based processes — a change that could improve accountability across nursing colleges nationwide.

What This Means Going Forward

Thursday's meeting signals that medical college fee regulation, seat allocation, and PMDC's oversight role will remain under close watch in upcoming parliamentary sessions. For students and parents tracking admissions in public and private medical colleges, the key takeaway is that fee increases now require documented approval, and colleges found overcharging are already facing formal notices from the regulator.