Honorable Chief Minister
Govt of Punjab, Pakistan

Subject: Allocation of dual nationals/overseas quota in public sector medical institutions of Punjab

Respected Chief Minister in the session 2015-2016 the government of Punjab reserved a total of 76 seats in public medical institutions for the children of overseas/dual nationals of Pakistani origin (the student could have qualified his/her studies from Pakistan). This was to be an incentive for overseas who contribute a large portion in the economy in form of remittances. Over the years this quota has attracted a lot of students (there were over 1000 applicants last year against 76 seats) seeking admission in public sector medical institutions of Punjab.

However, this year PMDC is changing the MBBS/BDS regulations and have stated the following rule “The Federal Government or the Provincial Governments may by notification declare a fixed number of seats for admission in public sector medical and dental institutions, from amongst the fixed allocated seats for each institution not exceeding 5% of such fixed allocated seats, to accommodate a specified category of students, and declaring the qualifications for such specified category seats.” It is feared that the total number of seats allocated to the aforementioned quota may be reduced as it is heard that Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zyed (Lahore) that had 10 seats allocated for overseas/Dual Nationals is no longer under Punjab Government’s authority, and the distribution of these seats have not been done keeping the 5% limit for each institution; where some institutions have way less than 5% seats allocated for this quota, some have allocated seats exceeding 5%.
The new regulations were made public in mid-June 2019 and the distribution of seats for this year has not been made public yet. It is therefore requested that it may be taken in account that the qualifications required for these seats is different from the other open merit seats and so many students have been preparing according to requirements for these seats thus any last moment changes to this quota will have a demoralizing and devastating effect on the lives of many students and would be a discouraging factor for overseas Pakistanis who would then rather choose abroad over Pakistan for their children’s future.

Moreover, the children of overseas/dual national Pakistanis suffer from various stress factors that affect their carrier such as split family mainly due to parent’s job, difference in education standards & curricula and cumbersome admission criteria for professional institutions especially medical colleges. For instance, as the matric/FSc system is very different from other international systems, majority of the student who move from other countries to Pakistan continue their studies according to Cambridge International System where the maximum achievable grade is A* which is equivalent to 90% marks as per IBCC equivalence. Therefore under the current equivalence system in Pakistan, there is negligible chance for any A- Level student to get admission into MBBS degree program on open merit in Government Institution (it should be noted, here, that not everyone can afford the private intuition fee or the fee of foreign quota which is 18000 USD) because in FSc system students can achieve up to 100% marks whereas under A-Level the maximum slab is 90%.

In view of the aforementioned points, it is highly requested that whatever the change in Regulations may be the current quota of 76 seats should be increased or at least maintained. If Sheikh Zaid is no longer under Punjab Government its 10 seats should be adjusted in other colleges where the seats allocated for this quota are way less than 5% and if in one institution the seats are exceeding 5% they should also be adjusted in other institutions. In other words, the total number of seats should not be decreased as it would be a great injustice if any drastic change is made to these seats, which have been reserved for so many years now, right at the moment of admission. In the entire world, by law, if any changes are made in the Policy, they are notified well before time and are implemented from the next session so students can plan their career paths accordingly (and in this case any major change will affect hundreds of students).
I would also like to request that from this year the current quota of 76 seats for overseas/dual national Pakistanis in public medical colleges of Punjab may be doubled (at least every institution should have 5% seats allocated for this quota) as it is evident from the merit list of previous many years that the merit of this quota is always higher than the merit of open seats. Also the same type of quota may be allocated in medical colleges of other provinces and in federal medical colleges.

Once again it is humbly requested that there should be no such change that would negatively affect those students who are aspiring to apply through this quota. This 76 reserved seats policy has been in effect for many years now and many students have moved from other countries to Pakistan, taken gap years or have given up other possible career options just to avail this opportunity of studying medicine with an economical fee structure.

Honourable Chief Minister, this matter does not concern a single student or one family it concerns the lives of hundreds of students and their families. Where injustice with just one student violates this country’s law, any un-thoughtful decision made by PMDC or Punjab Government regarding this matter would lead to a great injustice with the children of overseas/dual national Pakistanis who are struggling and contributing for their households and the national economy far from their families and country.