LAHORE: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council has directed Afghan medical and dental students already enrolled in Pakistan to return to Afghanistan, and has barred Afghan nationals from admission to medical and dental programmes in the current academic session.
The council has also ordered medical and dental colleges to complete the necessary administrative process for the students’ return.
According to the PMDC, the institutions concerned are to issue the required No Objection Certificates to Afghan students. The NOC is the document that allows a student’s academic record to be transferred or verified elsewhere, and its issuance is the practical mechanism through which an enrolled student can exit a Pakistani institution without losing credit for completed study.
Alongside the admissions ban, Afghan nationals will not be permitted placement, transfer or migration within medical and dental institutions. Migration — the transfer of a student from one recognised college to another mid-programme — is ordinarily regulated by the council on a case-by-case basis, and the blanket restriction removes that route entirely for this cohort.
The PMDC has separately directed medical and dental institutions not to extend facilitation of any kind to Afghan nationals, and to ensure strict compliance with its earlier instructions.
Institutions that have not yet submitted compliance reports have been directed to provide complete details within three days. The council has warned that action will follow in cases of non-compliance, concealment of information, or unauthorised facilitation.
Institutions found in breach may also face regulatory proceedings under the PMDC Act 2022, the statute under which the council operates as the sole regulator of medical and dental education and registration in Pakistan.
The PMDC’s role covers the accreditation of colleges, the recognition of degrees and the licensing of practitioners. Its instructions to colleges carry direct consequences: institutions that lose recognition cannot admit students or have their graduates registered.
Afghan students have for decades formed one of the larger foreign-national cohorts in Pakistani medical and dental colleges, admitted historically under foreign-student seat quotas and, in some periods, under scholarship arrangements. The directive represents a sharp reversal of that arrangement.
The council’s notification does not set out the treatment of students who are part-way through a five-year MBBS or four-year BDS programme, nor whether completed years of study will be certified in a form recognised by Afghan or third-country regulators. Institutions have not publicly stated how many students are affected.
The decision follows a broader tightening of policy affecting Afghan nationals across several sectors in Pakistan. The PMDC has not linked its directive to any specific federal instruction in the material issued to colleges.
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