Daily Times

The Medical and Dental Colleges Admissions Test (MDCAT) entrance exams would be held on same day across the country whereas Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) is all set to consult all public and private medical universities through relevant authorities to make adequate arrangements in this regards, a senior official of the PMC told Daily Times on Wednesday.

While explaining the decision, the official said that the commission took this decision in compliance with Federal Minister for National Health Services Regulations and Coordination (NHSR&C) Abdul Qadir Patel who issued such directives in a surprise visit to the PMC office at sector G-10/4 to check the performance of the department

Patel asked newly-appointed President and Vice President of the PMC Dr Noshad A Shaikh and Vice President Dr Khurshid Ahmad respectively to do their best in best interest of public.

The MDCAT is a mandatory test for admission to medical and dental colleges of both public and private sector.

“The Minister asked the PMC authorities to consult all provincial health secretaries for conduct to take on board each medical in their respective constituencies to finalize some comprehensive arrangements for test conduction on one day all over the country,” the official said.

According to an official statement of the PMC, the minister inspected each wing within the commission. “After examining many things in these wings, the Minister expressed his satisfaction on the overall performance of the PMC,” it added.

During the course of inspection, Patel visited the reception area of the medical body and reviewed the facilities provided to the doctors and general public. “He issued few directions to ensure improvement in public facilities after he met visitors and doctors present in the premises of PMC,” PMC claimed.

Patel acknowledged that each province has a different curriculum but noted that the MDCAT is administered at the federal level.

Besides this, as per statement, the Minster also asked President Dr Shaikh to also hold a meeting with the aforementioned single point agenda with all the vice chancellors of public sector universities of all provinces and provincial health secretaries.

Last week, Patel announced the postponement of the exams for an indefinite period of time due to floods in various parts of Sindh. exam will now be held “after consultation with the provinces”, the Minister said.

He recalled that as many as 1,300 people had been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by the floods due to which the decision to postpone the MDCAT exams had been inevitable.

On the occasion the Minister also announced that the passing percentage for the MBBS and BDS exams had been slashed from 65 percent and 45 percent respectively. Also, there will also be no National Licensing Exam (NLE) requirement for graduates.

It is worth mentioning that around 200,000 candidates have applied to sit for the MDCAT and have also paid the fee for it.