Nishtar Medical University

Nishtar Medical University (NMU) is a public university on Nishtar Road in Multan, Punjab. It calls itself the first medical university of south Punjab. ¹ The university carries the name of Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, the Governor of Punjab who announced its construction in 1950. ²

The institution grew from Nishtar Medical College, which worked from 1951-52. ¹ Nishtar Medical College and the Nishtar Institute of Dentistry carry the MBBS and BDS courses. ¹ Prof. Dr Mehnaz Khakwani leads the university as Vice Chancellor. ¹

UHS Lahore runs the admission process for Punjab. ⁹ The UHS seat table for 2025-26 keeps 300 MBBS seats at Nishtar Medical College, with 268 on open merit. ³ The dental institute holds 65 BDS seats, with 40 on open merit. ³

The idea of a medical teaching institution in Multan dates to 1945, when Dr. Mohammad Jamal Bhutta raised it. ² Punjab then held one medical college, King Edward Medical College in Lahore, and Muslim students held a small share of its seats. ² After Pakistan formed in 1947, the need for more doctors grew. The Government of Punjab then decided to build a medical college and hospital at Multan. ²

On 31 December 1950, Governor Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar announced the decision at a public meeting in Lahnge Khan’s Garden beside the Civil Hospital Multan. ² The college took his name. ² The people of Multan gave Rs. 1.815 million for the construction, and the sum later rose to Rs. 3.3 million. ²

Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar laid the foundation stone on 28 April 1951, and the UHS prospectus dates the college to 29 April 1951. ²³ Construction started on 10 July 1951 at the south west corner of the Anatomy department. ² Habib J. Somjee designed the college building, and Murat Khan designed the hospital building. ² Dr. Muhammad Jamal Bhutta served as the founder principal. ²

The first batch held 52 students, and the first MBBS batch graduated in May 1956. ² The university now teaches over 325 students each year. ² Nishtar Hospital began with 80 beds on 1 October 1953. ² The hospital now holds over 1700 beds, as the university page and the prospectus record. ²³

Affiliations moved with time. The college first worked with the University of the Punjab, then with Bahauddin Zakariya University from 1975, then with UHS from January 2003. ⁵

The campus added units over the decades. ² A dental section opened in 1974, and the Nishtar Institute of Dentistry followed in 2009. ² The Pakistan Health Research Center started on 14 November 1979. ² The nursing college dates to 2005, and the Pak-Italian Modern Burn Unit held its inauguration in December 2005. ² The College of Allied Health Sciences received approval on 23 June 2019. ²

The Provincial Assembly of Punjab passed the Nishtar Medical University Act in September 2017, and the college became a university. ⁵ The university page and the prospectus mark the upgrade in May 2017. ²³ PMC permitted the university to run its undergraduate and postgraduate examinations on 19 November 2020. ⁵

The dataset records NMU MBBS open-merit aggregates of 89.05% for 2022, 90.20% for 2023, 90.45% for 2024 and 94.1455% for 2025. The BDS figures at the dental institute move from 86.10% in 2022 to 88.20% in 2024 and hold the same mark for 2025.

Every aggregate follows the UHS formula: 50% MDCAT, 40% HSSC and 10% SSC. ⁴ UHS rounds the result up to four decimal places. ⁴

Compare the sessions with care. The MDCAT scale moved from 210 marks to 200 marks and then to 180 marks across these years. One percentage point is not one raw mark in every row.

Nishtar Hospital is the constituent hospital of the university. ¹ Its block started work in 1953, and the first 80 beds took patients on 1 October 1953. ²

The university page records over 1700 beds today, and the prospectus records 1700 beds with more than 3100 staff members. ²³ Our dataset records 1800 beds for the same hospital.

The prospectus states that the hospital serves the 70 lakh population of Multan District and the whole of southern Punjab. ³ It also serves areas of Balochistan, KPK and South Waziristan. ³ The Pak-Italian Modern Burn Unit works inside the hospital complex. ²

The dental wards add 8 beds at the institute and 20 beds for maxillofacial surgery in Ward 29. ³ The count adds 20 beds in general surgery, 20 in general medicine and 10 in psychiatry. ³

The campus stands on the western side of Multan, about 3 km from the city centre. ⁵ The prospectus records a campus of 125 acres, while our dataset history records 112 acres. Wikipedia gives 20 acres for the academic campus and over 112 acres for the campus, hospital and hostels together. ³⁵

The main building shows Islamic architecture around a central quadrangle. ⁵ Buildings added from the 1960s to the early 1980s came from the architect A. R. Hye. ⁵ The quadrangle acts as a garden for student functions. ⁵

Our facilities record lists the historic clock tower block, the Nishtar Central Library and the anatomy museum. It also lists the dissection halls, the hostels and a sports stadium with a swimming complex. The prospectus records three hostels for female students, four for male students, sports, transport and a canteen. ³

The UHS public notice names Nishtar Medical College and the Nishtar Institute of Dentistry among the participating public colleges. ⁴ PMDC lists the college entry as Nishtar Medical College, Multan. ⁶

Wikipedia records recognition from PMC and CPSP for undergraduate and postgraduate training. ⁵ It also records a place on the HEC list of recognised universities and a listing in the FAIMER International Medical Education Directory. ⁵ Our recognition record holds a WHO World Directory listing and ECFMG eligibility.

Students come from Punjab and from countries such as Jordan, Palestine, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. ⁵ Most of them live in the hostels on campus. ⁵ The prospectus records nearly 1654 MBBS students with 54 foreign students from seven countries. ³

The university site lists societies and clubs, a university mosque, hostels, sports, a library, an LMS, transport and scholarships among student services. ¹ Multan is the city of saints and shrines, and shrines and bazaars sit within reach of the campus. ³

Postgraduate training runs in medicine, surgery and allied fields, and the alumni network reaches North America. ³¹