Daily Times

As many as 52,614 students qualified for medical education in the exams National Medical and Dental College Admission Test-2024 (MDCAT-24) held by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) through different universities, parliamentary body was informed on Thursday.

A National Assembly Standing committee on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination was briefed by PMDC authorities.

As per statistics, as many as 52,614 students declared qualified for MBBS and BDS in ICT, AJK, GB and Sindh in retakes held by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) and IBA-Sukkur. The exams also held at international venues such as Dubai and Riyadh.

In ICT, AJK and GB, out of 12,717 registered candidates, 12,582 appeared in the retake exam, 11,166 candidates qualified for MBBS while 11,708 were eligible for the BDS program. Moreover, one candidate achieved the highest score of 199 marks and 329 candidates attained scores of 191 and above. The assessment reliability, the PMDC claimed, measured by Cronbach’s Alpha, was @ 0.97.

In Sindh the IBA-Sukkur was supposd to conduct MDCAT retake in which 32,208 candidates appeared from total registrations of 38,684 students. Of these, 13,718 were declared eligible for MBBS, and 16,072 for BDS programs. The highest score achieved was 192, obtained by four candidates.

On the occasion President PMDC Dr Rizwan Taj said that all admitting universities have been directed to expedite and complete the admission process as soon as possible and ensure that students can begin their medical education without further delay.

Dr Taj apprised the committee that an MDCAT Reforms Committee has also been constituted to enhance the transparency, efficiency and fairness of the process for which three committee meetings have already been held which is looking after the Revision of the MDCAT Syllabus to ensure clarity and uniformity.

Development of a Question Bank from a standardized syllabus, he said adding that restricting candidates to appear in the MDCAT only in their province or region of domicile and conducting MDCAT after the declaration of intermediate results for streamlined timelines. Implementing a centralized committee for paper drafting, transparency, and reduced human error, utilizing IT-based solutions for efficiency.