PESHAWAR: Officials concerned at a meeting here discussed enhancement of seats in public and private sector medical and dental colleges in Khyber Pakthunkhwa.
The meeting was chaired by caretaker Chief Minister Syed Arshad Hussain Shah.
The meeting was told that there were a total of 21 medical and 11 dental colleges both in the public and private sectors in the province with an accumulative number of 3,210 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 he had taken up the issue with Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and the latter had agreed in principle to enhance the seats subject to fulfillment of thecriteria 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.
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.
It was agreed that 20 percent of the enhanced seats would be reserved for needy students on scholarships.