📰 From the news · Other
Two PMDC directives, 31 July and 1 September 2026: Afghan medical students ordered home, then protected by the Lahore and Sindh high courts
Pakistan's medical and dental colleges enrol foreign students, and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) must register them before they can graduate and practise. Two PMDC directives, dated 31 July and 1 September 2026, told institutions to facilitate the return of enrolled Afghan students to Afghanistan and barred any admission, placement, transfer or migration of Afghan nationals this academic session, according to Voicepk and The Express Tribune.
The Express Tribune (11 September 2026) reported that thirteen Afghan students, seven women and six men enrolled at King Edward Medical University, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences, petitioned the Lahore High Court; colleges had evicted petitioners from hostels once the directives were implemented. King Edward had ordered 20 Afghan MBBS students, seven in their final year, to report within 24 hours while their no-objection certificates were processed. Many were on the HEC's Allama Iqbal scholarship, which had welcomed around 350 Afghan students in July 2025. On 11 September Justice Khalid Ishaq suspended the directives and allowed the students to continue their studies, sit examinations and return to hostels, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported; The Express Tribune added that the health ministry, the PMDC and the vice-chancellors were to reply by 18 September.
Voicepk reported that the PMDC's counsel argued the students lacked valid visas and that the matter concerned state security; the judge replied that there was no issue of state security and that students should be allowed to finish. Three petitions covered more than 30 students; a student estimated about 200 Afghan medical students in Punjab, nearly 100 in Lahore. On 15 September Voicepk reported that a Sindh High Court bench headed by Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon had suspended the notices for three final-year students at Dow Medical College, Karachi, after Dow University of Health Sciences told Afghan students on 10 September to collect their documents and NOCs. The PMDC's own figures, reported by The Express Tribune: more than 200 Afghan medical students identified, only 22 registered with the council, 14 of them graduates, and 176 under verification.
The mechanism here is a regulator acting beyond its education mandate, as the petitioners argued, and institutions complying within 24 hours without hearing the students. The PMDC's figures expose a second gap: most of these students were never registered with the council, and that registration is what a graduate needs to practise.
For any foreign student, confirm that the regulator has registered you, not only the college; keep your visa valid and your admission letters, fee receipts and NOCs in your own hands; and know that a court can protect you only if you can prove enrolment. Paperwork is the only defence when policy changes overnight.
Were you affected by this case, or something like it? Report it with your own evidence, or tell your story — first-person accounts are what stop the next family.
This is a news-sourced case summary written by the TrustMBBS team, not a first-person account; see the sources above. They reflect one person's experience and are not a verdict on any institution. Report your own: Report a scam or tell your story.