Inside the crisis emptying Pakistan’s medical college classrooms forcing PMDC to extend deadlines
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s medical colleges are facing a problem few could have imagined just a decade ago: empty classrooms in institutions once flooded with applicants. A profession long seen as a guaranteed path to prestige and security is now struggling to attract enough students to fill its seats. Behind this unexpected shift lies a convergence of policy pressure, economic realities, and growing uncertainty about the future of young doctors.
Official PMDC notification extending admission deadline to 31 March 2026.
This unfolding crisis has now prompted the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council has officially extended the admission deadline for all public and private sector medical and dental colleges until 31 March 2026, warning clearly that no further extension will be granted. The decision, taken at a PMDC council meeting on 10 February 2026, applies nationwide for the 2025–26 academic session and must strictly follow the PMDC Admissions Regulations 2025.
The decision reflects mounting pressure from universities and provincial regulators struggling to fill MBBS and BDS seats, particularly in the private sector.
Punjab’s empty seats
In Punjab alone, private medical colleges were left with 426 vacant MBBS seats even after the issuance of the fifth and final selection list by the University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore. UHS confirmed that although 4,350 MBBS seats were available across 33 private medical colleges, hundreds remained empty.
What alarmed regulators further was that 317 students who had initially taken admission later cancelled their enrollment, signalling not just low demand but active withdrawal from medical education.
Merit trends revealed a stark divide. While leading colleges closed above 88–90 percent merit, some institutions struggled to attract candidates even at just over 60 percent. The widening gap reflects a market where only a few institutions command trust, while others struggle to survive.
Sindh raises the alarm
The crisis is not confined to Punjab. In Sindh, the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University formally approached PMDC after around 350 MBBS seats remained vacant in private institutions.
In a letter sent by its registrar, SMBBMU warned that current eligibility thresholds were excluding too many candidates. It proposed a 10 percent reduction in passing marks:
– MBBS minimum to be lowered from 55 percent to 45 percent
– BDS minimum from 50 percent to 40 percent
The registrar cited last year’s five percent relaxation as a successful measure that prevented seat wastage and argued that this year’s situation was “more severe” due to fewer eligible candidates and a higher number of vacant seats.
Why students are walking away
Behind the numbers lies a growing disillusionment with medical careers.
One major factor is market saturation. Young doctors increasingly report difficulty securing stable jobs after graduation, with many stuck in low-paid contracts or prolonged waiting periods for postgraduate training.
Another is the cost of private medical education. Despite PMDC fee caps, families complain that hidden charges push total costs into millions of rupees over five years. With uncertain career prospects, many households are now questioning whether medical education is still worth the investment.
A warning sign for policymakers
Experts argue that the current situation should serve as a national alarm. The continued expansion of medical colleges without matching growth in hospitals, specialist training, and employment opportunities risks creating a surplus of underutilised doctors.
There are growing calls for stricter enforcement of fee regulations, transparency in college finances, and realistic career counselling for pre-medical students. Without clear data on job prospects and postgraduate training pathways, families continue to make decisions based on outdated perceptions of medicine as a guaranteed future.
What happens next
For now, medical colleges have been given one final window to fill their vacant seats under PMDC supervision. Whether this extension will meaningfully reverse the trend remains uncertain.
What is clear, however, is that Pakistan’s medical education system is facing a structural shift. Empty classrooms are no longer an anomaly; they are a symptom of deeper economic and workforce pressures that policymakers can no longer ignore.
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