Medical students from Balochistan, FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir will not be able to get admission into Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical & Dental College (SKZMDC) from this year onwards, as the Punjab government has revoked the college’s existing quota for other provinces.
The college is the attached medical institution of Sheikh Zayed Hospital (SZH) and has around 30 students from other provinces and FATA currently enrolled in various classes for MBBS. SZH was handed over to the Punjab government after the passage of the 18th amendment, along with the medical and dental college. The college gives admission to around 100 students every year on open merit.
A medical board holds annual meetings to decide the coming year’s admission policy, including the exam schedule, the number of seats and quotas for reserved seats. This board includes principals of various medical colleges to help make the decisions.
A senior professor said the college had an ‘open-merit’ policy for everyone, and admitted students from all provinces. “The open merit implies that whoever gets higher marks will get admission even if he or she is from Balochistan or FATA. But now only students from Punjab will get admission, and those from other provinces stand no chance anymore,” the professor said.
There is already growing concern among doctors and employees of the hospital regarding their future under the Punjab government. “The Supreme Court has stayed any change in the status of employees until it gives a verdict, but employees fear they will ultimately come to the folds of the Punjab government which has already cut off their allowances,” a doctor said.
Many senior doctors also thought the presence of medical students from other provinces had been a positive sign for the health of the federation, and strengthened inter-provincial feelings.
SZH Chairman and Dean Professor Zafar Iqbal said that employees all are set to follow the government orders and that from now on, admissions will be done under the Punjab government rules. “However, I request the government that special quotas should be allocated for students from FATA, Balochistan and Kashmir because of the lack of medical facilities in those areas,” he said.
Health Secretary Hassan Iqbal, on the other hand, said that cross-provincial posts are already present in medical colleges. “It is mandatory that all institutions devolved after the 18th amendment must be provincialised. If any institution has a problem, it can approach the government and will be granted seats,” he said.
Moreover, the policy approved by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced there will be no increase in tuition fee of medical colleges. The total number of seats in medical colleges is 3405 whereas there are 216 seats of BDS.