Fee structure of private medical colleges will remain unchanged until Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) finalizes an independent audit of their incomes and expenditures. This was informed to Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services and Regulations here on Tuesday.
The meeting of the committee was held in the Parliament House in the chair of Senator Sajid Hussain Turi. The committee chairman directed the PM&DC officials to keep a strict check on fee structure and education standard in the private medical colleges.
Regarding mechanism to be adopted to control the quality of food, especially supply and sale of substandard, unhygienic milk and poultry in the country, assistant commissioner Islamabad (rural) informed the committee members that out of 89 milk samples collected last year, 60 of them were below the standard.
He said that only 29 of the collected milk samples in the federal capital were found satisfactory. The committee was also informed that the matters relating to health in the federal capital come under three different departments and are not consolidated under one authority.
The committee decided to hear chief commissioner Islamabad, Municipal Corporation of Islamabad, and Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) in the next meeting on the matter. The committee was given a detailed briefing by Ministry of National Health Services and Regulations on taxation system for cigarette manufacturing companies on all brands.
The committee strongly recommended that there should be high taxation on cigarettes so that their use is discouraged. The committee observed that illicit use of cigarettes is an enforcement issue but taxation is a policy issue. The committee members directed officials of Federal Board of Revenue to come up with their proposals for tackling the taxation issue on different cigarette brands in the next meeting.