KARACHI, Sept 23: The provisional lists of candidates selected for admission to first year MBBS and BDS classes at government-run institutions in the province would be displayed at respective centres on Wednesday.
A total of 247 A-1 graders and 125 A graders are included among the first 373 candidates in Karachi district MBBS merit seats list, while in Hyderabad district, 16 A-1 graders and 79 A graders were placed against 100 allocated seats.
From Larkana district, as many as two A-1 graders and 32 A graders, among others, could make their way for admissions, against 45 allocated merit MBBS seats. Hafiz Abdul Moiz Fakih of Karachi secured overall first position in the province by securing 93.794 per cent marks.
The provisional lists of district merit seats were finalized by the entry test conducting agency, Bahria University, and handed over to representative of the Sindh health department at a ceremony held at the Bahria Institute of Management and Computer Science on Tuesday.
Rector of the university, vice-admiral, Fayyazur Rehman, and additional secretary of the health department, Dr Iqbal Daudpota, were also briefed about the salient features of the entry test results at the ceremony, attended by chairmen of different admission centres or their representatives as well.
While briefing on the entry tests and merit lists, director of Bahria Institute, Capt Ahmed Zaheer, said that in all 8,803 candidates took the tests at three centres. An increase of 1,702 candidates, including 927 in Larkana centre, for admissions was registered with respect to last year strength, he added.
A total of 453 A-1 graders, including 378 from Karachi, had applied for admission to MBBS classes in the province. Merit marks for admission were recorded on higher side at Hyderabad and Larkana centres, while in the case of Karachi centre, it remained almost unchanged with respect to the last year percentage, he informed.
Capt Ahmed said that data pertaining to the SSC and HSC examinations was provided by the respective admission centres, while the BU had added to it the weightage of entry test and then compiled the consolidated lists within the notified period.
He said that the university had not been able to mention the exact score of a few candidates in the merit list as they failed to provide the equivalence of marks sheet of foreign examinations issued by IBCC Islamabad in time. However, he said, the list could be rectified and marks of certain candidates could be revised, as soon as equivalence certificate was received.
For the applicants from Karachi, the provisional merit list starts at 93.79 per cent and closes at 81.57 per cent marks, from where it starts for Dow Medical College and 79.06 in the case of Sindh Medical College. A total of 373 merit seats are available for Karachi-based students.
The Hyderabad district merit lists begins at 88.8 per cent and closes at 71.96 per cent, while the Larkana district lists starts at 80.52 per cent and closes at 63.32 per cent. Of the first 100 position holders of the Karachi district merit list, only eight are A graders, while remaining are A-1 graders.
The maximum marks obtained in the Bahria University entry test from Karachi were 390, while a maximum of 377 and 373 were scored in the tests by candidates of Hyderabad and Larkana districts respectively.
According to details of the merit lists and a comparison with the last year cut-off percentage, students from Thatta district showed relatively good performance. Last year the cut off percentage for Thatta was recorded at 56.7, while this year, the merit lists began at 80.52 and closed at 63.32 per cent.
The district-wise cut-off percentages or merit for admission to MBBS classes for the year 2003 are: Karachi (DOW)-81.57; Karachi (SMC)-79.06; Hyderabad-71.96; Nawabshah-70.69; Naushehro Feroze-71.75; Mirpurkhas-73.46; Tharparkar-74.83; Sanghar-71.19; Thatta-63.32; Badin-66.77; Larkana-69.9; Sukkur-74.78; Ghotki-72.73; Shikarpur-66.05; Dadu-68.43; Jacobabad-66.62 and Khairpur-77.8.
In the meantime, the principal of Dow Medical College, Dr S Tipu Sultan, told Dawn that lists had been received at his centre and copies of same would be pasted near the main gate for the candidates. He said that after receiving objection on the list, a final list would be released as per schedule already given in the prospectus, while classes would start from Oct 15.
