RAWALPINDI: National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) will simultaneously hold its Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) across the country and overseas in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for admission in MBBS/BDS programmes on Oct.16, said the University Registrar Brig Muhammed Azhar (Retd) here on Monday. He said MDCAT was being held for admission in 13 medical and dental colleges. The students seeking admission in these colleges this year were no longer required to sit any other test as per the decision of Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) last month. The nomenclature of NUMS Entry Test (NET) had been changed to NUMS MDCAT 2022. All the candidates for MBBS and BDS would have to secure 55% and 45 % passing marks respectively to be successful in the test, added the registrar. The NUMS MDCAT for MBBS/BDS Session 2022 will take place at the examination centres, set up in 19 different cities in the four provinces, including the Federal Capital Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir(AJK) and NUMS centers abroad. Over 69,000 candidates having Pakistani nationality will be sitting the test at their respective exam centres to compete for 2,075 seats. Of all the contesting candidates, 46,262 girls and 23,533 boys had applied for the admission. The result of MDCAT for NUMS was expected to be announced within two to three weeks, said the Registrar. Meanwhile, the university has finalized all the arrangements to conduct MDCAT for NUMS in a transparent manner and trained staff is being deployed at its examination centers. A special control room will be set up at NUMS Secretariat to monitor and coordinate with all the examination centers in real-time. NUMS has urged the candidates to reach, along with their required documents, to their respective examination centres two hours before the start of the test.