Islamabad: Despite extending admissions by 45 days and lowering eligibility criteria for MBBS and BDS programmes, 743 seats remained vacant in medical and dental colleges across Pakistan for the 2025-26 academic session, raising concerns about declining interest in medical education, soaring private sector fees and a severe shortage of qualified faculty.
The vacant seats remained unfilled even after authorities reduced the minimum qualifying marks from 55 to 52 percent for MBBS admissions and from 50 to 47 percent for BDS admissions.
Official data shows that out of more than 22,300 MBBS and BDS seats available in 187 public and private medical and dental colleges across the country, 743 could not be filled. The vacant seats included 381 in Punjab, 295 in Sindh, 50 in Islamabad and 17 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Of the total vacant seats, 608 were in BDS programmes and 135 in MBBS, indicating that students are increasingly reluctant to pursue dentistry while interest in medical education is also beginning to decline.
The development comes despite more than 140,000 students registering for the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) this year, of whom around 90,000 qualified for admission.
Officials and medical education experts believe the large number of vacant seats reflects a combination of factors, including soaring tuition fees in private institutions, concerns about educational quality, uncertain career prospects and the growing realization among students and parents that a medical degree no longer guarantees stable employment or financial security.
Several private colleges, particularly lower-tier institutions, reportedly attempted to attract students by reducing fees and offering incentives, but many still failed to fill their allocated seats.
The situation has renewed debate over the continued establishment of new private medical and dental colleges despite the availability of hundreds of vacant seats and growing concerns regarding educational standards.
Documents available with The News reveal that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) had itself warned the government against unchecked expansion of medical and dental colleges and recommended a three to five-year moratorium on new institutions and enhancement of seats.
In a letter sent to the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, the PMDC stated that Pakistan’s 187 medical and dental colleges required 26,018 faculty members to meet regulatory standards, but only 22,146 were available, leaving a shortfall of 3,872 teachers.
The council warned that the shortage was adversely affecting educational competence, clinical training, research, academic excellence and ultimately patient care. It argued that establishing new colleges or increasing seats would further worsen the faculty crisis and compromise the quality of medical education.
The faculty shortage has become so severe that the PMDC recently increased the upper age limit for retired faculty members and allowed them to continue serving in teaching positions to help institutions meet minimum staffing requirements.
Medical education experts maintain that Pakistan does not currently need additional medical colleges or more seats. Instead, they argue, policymakers should focus on strengthening existing institutions, ensuring adequate faculty, improving clinical training facilities and making medical education more affordable for deserving students.
They warn that rapid expansion without sufficient teachers, teaching hospitals and training infrastructure risks producing graduates with inadequate clinical exposure and limited practical skills, potentially compromising patient safety and healthcare quality.
Experts further contend that the country’s priority should be to produce competent, skilled, ethical and empathetic doctors and dentists rather than merely increasing the number of graduates entering the workforce each year.
The concerns are particularly significant because an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Pakistani students are currently pursuing medical and dental education abroad in countries including China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and several Eastern European states despite the availability of seats within Pakistan.
According to experts, the trend highlights deeper issues within Pakistan’s medical education system, including affordability, quality perceptions and concerns regarding training standards. They believe the growing number of vacant seats and the shortage of nearly 4,000 faculty members should prompt regulators and policymakers to shift their focus from expansion to quality improvement.
“Pakistan needs better doctors, not more medical colleges,” remarked a senior medical education expert, arguing that the future of healthcare depends on producing competent practitioners capable of meeting modern healthcare challenges rather than simply increasing enrolment numbers.
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