Apex court bars private medical colleges from advertising admissions

LAHORE: The private medical colleges on Thursday have been ordered by the Supreme Court to not advertise admissions until further notice.

The decision came from Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar while hearing a suo motu case on exorbitant fees charged by medical colleges, at the apex court’s Lahore registry.

The Federal Investigation Agency informed the court that Rs745 million was recovered and returned to students.

The court was further requested by the FIA officials to ‘issue directives to the University of Health Sciences to constitute a centralised admissions policy’.

The CJP remarked that the court wants quality doctors emerging from the country.

He lamented that medical colleges have been extracting as much as Rs3.4 million from students in fees.

Earlier in March, the Supreme Court had ordered all medical colleges across the country to return collected fees in excess of Rs850, 000 to students within 15 days.

Moreover, they were told that strict actions would be taken against the medical colleges not complying with the court’s orders.

The chief justice will resume hearing of all cases from July 30.