The Punjab government appears unwilling to raise the seats reserved for children of overseas Pakistanis in public sector medical and dental colleges, despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s earlier announcement of a 15% quota.
Currently, only 66 seats, less than 2% of the total, are reserved across 20 government medical and dental colleges in Punjab.
In April, the prime minister declared that 15% reserved seats would be allocated nationwide for expatriates’ children, enabling more than 3,000 students to pursue medical education in Pakistan.
The PMDC later informed the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis that it had implemented the PM’s directive and communicated it to all stakeholders.
However, Punjab’s 2025–26 admission policy, notified in October, did not reflect the promised increase.
A senior official said the new policy not only ignored the 15% quota but also abolished free education for overseas Pakistanis’ children in government institutions.
Under the revised rules, students applying for the overseas quota must now pay US$10,000 annually.
Punjab’s public sector medical and dental colleges currently offer 3,379 seats—3,121 MBBS and 258 BDS.
A University of Health Sciences (UHS) official claimed the PM’s directive applied only to private sector colleges, where the PMDC has long implemented a 15% quota.
However, high annual fees, about Rs2.5 million, have discouraged expatriates’ children from applying, leaving many seats vacant and later shifted to open merit.
Overseas Pakistanis argue the real concern is the public sector, where they are willing to pay the US$10,000 fee but want the quota increased from 2% to 15%, which would raise their seats to around 500.
Officials say the Punjab government is hesitant to expand the quota due to pressure on state-run medical colleges, which are already struggling to maintain academic standards.
Some insiders also claim the provincial government is considering ending quota-based admissions altogether.
An overseas Pakistani rejected the UHS claim, stating that the PMDC’s May 23 letter did not specify that the 15% quota was limited to private colleges.
He said the notification clearly allowed eligible expatriate students to apply for 15% foreign seats in both public and private medical and dental institutions.
