The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has taken steps to regulate the high tuition fees of medical and dental colleges throughout the country by establishing a maximum fee limit. To support this initiative, a legal opinion has been sought.

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A recent letter stated that, according to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Act 2022, private medical and dental colleges are legally obligated to set their annual tuition fees for the entire duration of study, and these fees cannot be increased during a student’s enrollment.

Several months ago, the PMDC registrar requested legal advice on this matter, indicating that the regulations under the PMDC Ordinance 1962 and the MBBS and BDS Admissions, House Jobs, and Internships Regulations of 2010 and 2012 had previously set the tuition fees for private medical and dental colleges at Rs500,000 and Rs600,000 per annum, respectively. The Council later permitted a 7% increase, raising the fee to Rs642,000.

In a suo moto case (01/2010) on March 9 and 24, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered all medical colleges to refund any amounts exceeding Rs850,000 collected from students for the current session. Refunds must be issued within one month upon proof of payment, although reasonable transportation and hotel charges may not be included if such services were used.

Following the court’s ruling, the initial tuition fee for private colleges was set at Rs850,000, later increasing to Rs950,000 based on the MBBS and BDS Admissions Regulations of 2018. A 5% annual increase was also allowed for the 2020-21 academic year.

Currently, however, many private medical colleges are charging between Rs2 million and Rs2.5 million annually, alongside admission fees, while dental colleges charge between Rs1.2 million and Rs1.8 million per year.

Recently, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister convened a meeting of the Committee on Medical Education Reforms, which expressed concern over the excessive tuition fees imposed by private colleges. A sub-committee has been formed to outline regulations for tuition fees, with an agreement that any institution that has charged fees exceeding the published rates must refund the excess to students.

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