Daily Times

Aftermath of weeks-long protest by students against some major technical errors during digitized MDCAT 2021 exams, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) held post-exam analysis and the Commission announced the final result of the MDCAT-2021 exams on Saturday.

President PMC and Vice President PMC Dr Arshad Taqi and Ali Raza formally announced the results of Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) exams at a press conference in which they said that the post-exam analysis was conducted independently by Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad.

When countrywide protests have been started by MDCAT students earlier this month against the alleged mismanagement of the PMC authorities and they also demanded for conduction of exams at the same that practice being followed before promulgation of the PMC act, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced that the QAU would hold a post-exam analysis of the MDCAT.

The PMC brass informed the media persons that a record number of 194,133 students took part in the MDCAT exams from August 30, 2021 to October 2, 2021. “Out of this number, 68,680 students passed the exam resulting in a national passing percentage of 35.4 percent,” the President said.

The PMC top officials, however, avoided taking any question from the Journalists. Both officials left their seats soon after the conclusion of the announcement of the results. In addition, Dr Arshad Taqi said, the 276 students were COVID-19 and dengue affected who appeared in the exams late while the result of such students would be released very shortly.

As per handout shared by PMC, the passing students in MDCAT ratio in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) was 46.26 percent where total of 2,139 students passed followed by Punjab with passing percentage of 42.84 percent where passing students figure documented as 42,860. Likewise, successful strength in Azad Jammu Kashmir was 38.13 percent with students’ number of 1,478.

In Gilgit Baltistan the percentage was 35.21 followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where a total of 12,205 students stood successful with overall percentage 29.32.

According to the PMC the MDCAT was the single largest computer-based examination held in the country to ensure that every student entering the field of medical study has the necessary aptitude, knowledge concepts and analytical skills required for the rigorous medical and dental training programs.

“The MDCAT being a computer-based examination was in accordance with global best practices and a comprehensive data set is now available that was not possible with a pen and paper exam,” explained the PMC president.

He added that it was held for the first time not only in 25 centers across the country but 6 international centers in North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Dr Arshad Taqi “it is a proud day today for the Pakistan Medical Commission as we announce the final result of the MDCAT 2021. However, PMC believes in evolving according to international best practices and introducing reforms that will have a direct impact on improving the healthcare education and consequently the quality of healthcare delivery in the country.”

Moreover, he added, a student can apply for review to PMC where a student will be shown their wrongly answered questions test on a computer terminal. This facility is available for a review fee and will further authenticate the MDCAT 2021 result and satisfy the students.