KP medical colleges asked to gear up for increasing seats

PESHAWAR: Officials concerned at a meeting discussed seats enhancement in public and private sector medical and dental colleges in Khyber Pakthunkhwa province.

The meeting was chaired by Caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Justice Retired Syed Arshad Hussain Shah.

Briefing the participants about the existing seat strengths  of the dental and medical colleges and their capacities to enhance the seats, it was told that there were a total of 21 medical and 11 dental colleges in the province with an accumulative strength of 3210 seats per annum.

Due to such limited seats, every year thousands of qualified students cannot get admissions in the colleges.

The caretaker chief minister said that he had taken up the issue of seats enhancement in medical and dental colleges of the province with Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, adding the authorities of PMDC had agreed in principle to enhance the seats subject to fulfillment of the set criteria by the medical and dental colleges.

He remarked that it was a golden opportunity for the colleges for their seats enhancement, and steps are required on urgent basis to avail the opportunity.

On this occasion, the management of both the public and private sector medical and dental colleges were asked to work out their capacities for seats enhancement, and communicate the same to the provincial government for taking up the same with PMDC for formal approval.

The chief minister made it clear that with the enhancement of seats, the set criteria and quality of education would not be compromised at at any cost.

The participants of the meeting lauded the efforts of the chief minister for enhancement of medical and dental seats, and said that it was a big achievement of the chief minister and great service for medical field of the province. 

It was agreed that 20 percent of the enhanced seats would be reserved for needy students on scholarships.