Not too long ago, there was a mushroom growth of fake medical colleges in the country. Set up by shady characters, these diploma mills milked the unending supply of those students eager to get medical education who hadnt been able to get into the government-run medical colleges. Scores upon scores of these students were left high and dry when it used to transpire that their degrees were useless. Medical education in the country is highly regulated, as it should be, given the serious implications inadequate standards could have. The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council is a body that ensures all the graduates of MBBS and BDS degrees are up to a bare minimum set of standards; its certification to a medical college comes after a thorough and stringently tough test, as most of the now-defunct private medical colleges found to their dismay.
Two new such medical colleges opened shop the other day in the Punjab. But the inauguration wasnt done by some sleazy businessman with no regard for the lives and careers of the youngsters enrolled. No, it was, rather, the head of the provincial government! Mian Shahbaz Sharifs inauguration of these two fake medical colleges got their share of press, as intended. They got their share of photo-ops. The two colleges even have their share of students from their first batch. The only thing these colleges dont have is certification by the PMDC. In fact, the regulatory body says the Punjab Health Department hasnt even bothered applying in the first place. Another two fake government medical colleges have also started their classes.
An indifference towards the law was always a hallmark of the present regime in the Punjab, even during the supposedly better earlier stint. But this time round the Chief Minister also seems to have an apathy towards common sense. All seems to have been sacrificed at the altar of cheap populism. The sasti roti scheme instead of fixing the mismatches in the agricultural goods market. The Daanish schools instead of working on the existing, dilapidated network of schools. An obsession with urban roads that borders on the fanatic. All of them grab headlines, the way medical colleges do. But all of them are expensive. The Punjab government is facing serious financial problems, at times wondering how to pay basic salaries to its employees. Good press is all well and good. How about some governance as well?
