Daily Times

To address the issue of O & A Level students who are aspirant to enter medical field, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has announced that provisional equivalence of students would be issued after verification of online results.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Inter Board Chairman Committee (IBCC) and Ministry of Health, according to the PMC, the practice has been followed for the students of O & A Levels who are aspirant to apply for admission to medical and dental colleges but the official result of their O & A Level classes are yet to be announced. The results of such students will be announced on January 11, while they were required to get equivalence to be issued by IBCC before 19 January, as it was the closing date of admission announced by medical and dental colleges.

In this regard, as per sources, an emergent meeting was held between IBCC Secretary Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah and PMC Vice President Muhammad Ali Raza at PMC Head Office. The sole purpose of the meeting was to address the issue of O & A Level students. The IBCC secretary elaborated on the recently approved policy of IBCC that provisional equivalence would be issued after verification of online results to facilitate such students for applying to medical and dental colleges.

To alleviate the concerns of the students and provide maximum facility to them, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood and SAPM Health Dr Faisal Sultan immediately requested IBCC to take urgent steps in consultation with the PMC to assist the students and ensure that they are able to apply for their medical college admissions.

The IBCC has announced an expedited special policy on the directions of the federal minister for education, endorsed by the Steering Committee of IBCC, to collect applications from students who appeared in O & A Level examination from December 31, 2020. Such students are required to submit their application through TCS, but they will also be accommodated through walk-in mode by observing the SOPs adopted to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The walk-in mode of service will be active till January 30, 2021.

The candidates will be required to submit original and attested copies of O & A Level certificates passed before November 2020 and Statement of Entry of November 2020 Examination Session. The candidates will also be required to submit an affidavit that in case of any alteration with the results or documents, IBCC reserves the right to take action in accordance with IBCC regulations.

After receipt of online results, IBCC will prepare provisional equivalence within three days which can be collected from IBCC (Head Office) Islamabad or its regional offices of Bahawalpur, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. IBCC will also send the provisional equivalence by e-mail to the candidates to facilitate a timely admission process.