Daily Times

LAHORE: As many as 56,272 candidates appeared in medical and dental colleges’ entrance test, which was conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) simultaneously in 13 cities of the province amid tight security on Sunday.

A large number of police personnel, ambulances and fire brigades were deployed at the centres to prevent any untoward situation during the examination. Besides, close circuit television cameras, mobile phone jammers and walk-through gates were also installed at all the centres. There were proper arrangements for the disabled students, while parking and waiting area facilities were provided to the parents of the candidates. Back-up power generators were also provided at some of the centres.

The candidates and parents expressed their satisfaction on the arrangements made by UHS and the provincial government. Parents were seen reciting the Holy Quran for the success of their children. No untoward incident was reported during the course of the test.

In Lahore, Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan, City District Government Limited Secretary Aslam Kamboh, Management and Professional Development Department (MPDD) Secretary Nadeem Irshad Kiyani, Higher Education Secretary Capt (r) Nasim Nawaz, Women Development Secretary Bushra Aman, Punjab Examination Commission CEO Nasir Iqbal Malik, Literacy Secretary Dr Naveed Ahmad Chaudhry, Industries DG Khalid Saleem, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Capt (r) Muhammad Usman and other senior officials monitored the arrangements made by UHS for a total of 11,155 female and 5,635 male candidates who appeared in the test at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) examination halls on Lawrence Road, Punjab University examination halls on Wahdat Road, Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Government Central Model School in Lower Mall, Government Postgraduate College for Women in Samanabad, University of Education in Township and Lahore College for Women University, Jail Road.

UHS Vice Chancellor Maj Gen (r) Prof Muhammad Aslam and Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Secretary Najam Ahmad Shah also visited various centres and monitored the arrangements. Talking to media on the occasion, UHS Vice Chancellor Maj Gen (r) Prof Muhammad Aslam said that medicine and dentistry attracts the most brilliant students every year and these students demand a system that is duly probing, robust and fair. “UHS has tried to make the process structured and transparent which is regularly reviewed to ensure that only suitable and capable candidates are admitted,” he said, adding that UHS believed that all candidates should have an equal opportunity to show their suitability for the MBBS and BDS programmes.

Meanwhile, UHS uploaded the answer keys to the question papers of different colour codes on its website. With the help of these keys, candidates could calculate their scores themselves. The official result would be announced within 10 days.

There are 3,405 MBBS seats in 17 public sector medical colleges and 216 BDS seats in three public dental colleges of Punjab. Besides, there are around 3,500 MBBS and 800 BDS seats in 27 private sector medical colleges and 12 dental colleges of the province respectively.