Rawalpindi Medical University

Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) is a public medical university in Rawalpindi. ¹ It started as Rawalpindi Medical College in 1974 and took university status in 2017. ¹ The University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore runs its admissions through the public portals. ⁹¹⁰

PMDC lists the college with a seat allocation of 350 for MBBS. ⁸ Our directory records 350 MBBS seats and 50 BDS seats, with a first-year fee of Rs. 32,000 for each.

Three public hospitals carry the clinical years. Our directory records 1,950 beds across Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarter Hospital. ² The PMDC register names two of them as owned teaching hospitals. ¹¹ Two sister institutes, the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplantation, join the network. ²

The university runs two campuses in Rawalpindi. The main campus on Tipu Road holds the early years, and the campus at Holy Family Hospital holds the clinical years. ¹

Rawalpindi Medical College opened in Faisalabad on 18 March 1974. ¹ The college moved to Rawalpindi on 5 November 1974. ¹ It took an incomplete building at Tipu Road that once served as the science block of Gordon College. ¹ Professor Abdul Latif, an anatomist, became the founding principal. ¹

Professor Abdul Latif built the student hostels, the staff colony and the auditorium. ¹ He completed the faculty across the departments. ¹ He acquired Holy Family Hospital from the missionary church. ¹ He also took the Central Government Hospital, which became Rawalpindi General Hospital and later Benazir Bhutto Hospital. ¹ District Headquarter Hospital affiliated as the first teaching hospital. ¹

Professor Mohammad Nawaz served as the second principal. ¹ Professor Mohammad Iqbal led surgery and later served as principal. ¹ Professor Iqbal and Professor Saad Rana built the New Teaching Block at Holy Family Hospital with help from the Islamic Development Bank. ¹ Professor Mubashir Malik established the Department of Psychiatry. ¹

The Department of Medical Education and the Institute of Allied Health Sciences started in 2007. ¹ Professor Musadiq Khan formed that plan and also started the new teaching block, the ICU and the CCU at Holy Family Hospital. ¹ Professor Mohammad Umar took office in 2013 as the first Rawalian principal. ¹ He rebuilt the undergraduate training, the libraries, the cafeteria, the hostels and the student section. ¹

The government upgraded the college to Rawalpindi Medical University in 2017. ¹¹² The university teaches MBBS and trains M.Phil, MS, MD, FCPS and MCPS students, and it runs three PhD programmes. ¹ More than 10,718 students graduated, and over 600 of them came from abroad. ¹ The university ranked second in the merit order among public medical teaching institutions of Punjab in 2022. ¹

Rawalpindi Medical College stayed with the University of the Punjab until 2003 and then moved to UHS. ¹² The Higher Education Commission lists the university among degree awarding institutions. ¹ The Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed it in the 601-800 band in 2025. ¹²

Holy Family Hospital grew from a mission started by Agnes McLaren of Edinburgh. ³ The mission took shape in 1927 on Murree Road and moved to its present site in the 1940s. ³ The university states that the hospital opened in 1948 and teaches with the college from 1977 onward. ²³

The MBBS open-merit closing aggregate moved from 89.45% in 2022 to 90.65% in 2023. It stood at 90.20% in 2024 and reached 93.9263% in 2025.

The BDS open-merit closing aggregate moved from 86.80% in 2022 to 88.00% in 2023. It reached 88.85% in 2024 and held at 88.85% in 2025.

UHS builds the aggregate from three parts: 10% SSC, 40% HSSC and 50% MDCAT. ⁹ Every value in this chart comes from the open-merit category of a public university.

MDCAT total marks moved from 210 to 200 to 180 across recent sessions, so one percentage is not the same raw score in every row. The UHS merit annexure works one example on a 200-mark scale and a second on a 180-mark scale. ⁹

Three public hospitals carry the clinical years. Holy Family Hospital stands in Satellite Town and reports 1,000 beds on the university site. ² Our directory records 850 beds for it. Benazir Bhutto Hospital stands on Murree Road. ⁴ District Headquarter Hospital works as the referral centre for trauma in the city. ⁵

The PMDC register of recognised institutes lists Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital at DHQ as owned hospitals. ¹¹ The register gives the college address at the New Teaching Block of Holy Family Hospital. ¹¹

Holy Family Hospital grew from a mission started by Agnes McLaren of Edinburgh. ³ The mission took shape in 1927 and moved to its present site in the 1940s. ³ The university states that the hospital opened in 1948 and teaches with the college from 1977 onward. ²³

Benazir Bhutto Hospital started a renal transplant programme on 10 September 2013. ⁴ District Headquarter Hospital runs an operating theatre with an intensive care unit on the first floor. ⁵ The university also works with the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplantation as sister hospitals. ²

The main campus sits on Tipu Road off Murree Road in the heart of the city. ¹ First and second year students study anatomy, physiology and biochemistry there, and admission formalities run from that campus. ¹

The new campus stands on the Holy Family Hospital premises. ¹ Third, fourth and final year students study clinical subjects there, and the Vice Chancellor office sits on the same campus. ¹

Four hostels take students from other cities. ⁶ Boy Hostel 1 stands on the college premises near the Latif Auditorium. ⁶ Boy Hostel 2 lies six kilometres away in Satellite Town, and the girls hostel sits two kilometres away in the staff colony. ⁶

Other facilities on record include a digital library, an advanced skills learning laboratory and a research and biostatistics directorate. ² The campus also runs a cafeteria, a mosque and sports facilities. ⁶

PMDC lists the college in its public medical colleges register with a seat allocation of 350. ⁸ UHS carries the university in the 2025-26 public admission prospectus. ⁹ The Higher Education Commission lists the university among degree awarding institutions. ²

The PMDC register of recognised institutes records the attached teaching hospitals for the college. ¹¹ Our accreditation record lists PMDC recognition, a WHO World Directory of Medical Schools listing, ECFMG eligibility and CPSP accreditation.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed the university in the 601-800 band in 2025. ¹²

Four hostels hold students who travel from other cities, and room allotment runs on a first come first served basis. ⁶ Approved residents pay the fee within seven days of approval, and mess charges run separately. ⁶ Two hostels for men sit at different points around the city, and the women hostel sits in the staff colony. ⁶

Student societies on campus cover medicine, sports, arts, literature, drama, adventure and Islamic study. ¹² The campus runs a cafeteria, a mosque, sports facilities and child care. ⁶ The mosque stands inside the campus for daily prayers. ⁶

First and second year students study on the Tipu Road campus, while clinical years move to the Holy Family Hospital campus. ¹ Students move across at the start of the third year. ¹ The Latif Auditorium stands on the main campus. ⁶