ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has asked degree awarding institutions to stop offering unrecognized postgraduate programmes for students, an official of the council said.
The official said that a number of medical and dental colleges are offering postgraduate courses despite the fact that they have not been mandated to offer them.
The PMDC official said that the Council has advised doctors in their own interest that before going for admission in postgraduate medical and dental programs, they should ascertain that the postgraduate medical and dental courses programs or diplomas offered by the institution are recognized and are included in the III schedule of PMDC.
Moreover, he said that students before getting admission in a postgraduate course should confirm that the institutions and courses were recognized as the council would not accept their degrees in unrecognized programme or unrecognized institution like FCPS, MS, MD, M.Phil, Ph.D and MPH.
The official said that PMDC has written letters to all the medical and dental degree awarding institution on the direction of the Council and advised doctors to refrain admission in such unrecognized programs.
The PMDC official said that it is in the interest of the students to confirm whether colleges which offer courses or where they are going to get admission are recognized or not. He added that all the information regarding the institutions and the courses they offer is available on the website of the council.
The official further said that advertising any unrecognized course is a clear violation of law, and the head of the institution can face imprisonment from one year to five years and fine which can be from Rs rupees five million to Rs 10 million.
In addition, he said that those institutions who will offer the unrecognized courses can be closed, and even their recognized courses can be banned on using them as a cover and offering unrecognized courses.
