Pakistan, April 11 -- A warning issued by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council should have sent shockwaves through the country's already fragile healthcare system. The regulator has identified at least ten universities offering unrecognised postgraduate medical and dental programmes, cautioning that such qualifications will not be registered; effectively rendering them useless for professional practice. At the same time, the crisis appears far more widespread. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has recently flagged over 100 fake, illegal, or unauthorised institutions and campuses operating across Pakistan, warning that degrees issued by them have no legal or academic value.

At the heart of this controversy lies a deeply troubling r...