Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi has dismissed 27 employees whose academic qualifications were found to be fake, and the Sindh Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has ordered that all salaries paid to them be recovered, according to reports in The Express Tribune and Pakistan Observer published on 21 October 2026.

The disclosures came during a PAC meeting chaired by Nisar Khuhro that reviewed audit paragraphs for 2024 and 2025. The audit had criticised the university administration for failing to verify staff degrees and for giving an unsatisfactory response.

What the committee was told

The university's director of finance told the committee that degree verification had been outsourced through the Higher Education Commission (HEC) process under a contract worth Rs7.36 million. Of roughly 5,350 employees, the degrees of 1,945 have been verified so far and 27 of those were found to be fake. Credentials of about 3,400 staff are still pending.

According to The Express Tribune, the 27 employees worked in roles ranging from receptionists, clerks and computer operators to billing staff, technicians and nursing staff. The documents found to be fake reportedly included BCom, BA, BSc and MCom degrees, matriculation certificates, nursing diplomas and a master's degree in computer science.

Vice Chancellor Dr Nazli Hussain told the committee that more than 70 per cent of the degrees held by academic doctors had been verified and that the remainder were being processed, the newspaper reported.

A problem that has grown with checking

The figures show how the count rises as verification advances. In December 2025, the state news agency APP reported that the same committee had ordered Dow University to complete HEC verification of all staff degrees within three months, after 10 employees were found to have been hired on fake degrees. At that time only about 450 degrees had been checked. The three-month deadline has evidently not been met, with more than 3,400 cases still outstanding ten months later.

The PAC has now asked all public-sector universities in Sindh to report on how they are verifying the qualifications of both academic and non-academic staff.

Lessons for employers

The case illustrates a common gap: credentials accepted at hiring and never checked afterwards. Institutions can reduce the risk by making appointments conditional on verification with the issuing university or board, by checking directly with the awarding body rather than relying on copies, and by auditing existing staff files in batches instead of waiting for an audit objection. In Pakistan, degree attestation and verification run through the HEC; in India, through the issuing university or the National Academic Depository where records are uploaded.

Sources

This News Desk report summarises information published by the sources above, written in our own words. Persons named in criminal matters are accused, not convicted, unless a court has ruled otherwise. To report an error, use our contact page.

PakistanDow UniversityDegree verificationPublic Accounts CommitteeFake degrees

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