An upward of 56,000 students sit UHS test

Published August 29, 2016
The chock-a-block portion of Jail Road after the medical entrance test candidates came out of the Lahore College for Women University. — White Star
The chock-a-block portion of Jail Road after the medical entrance test candidates came out of the Lahore College for Women University. — White Star

LAHORE: A total of 56,272 candidates -- 36,542 female and 19,730 male -- appeared amid tight security in the entrance test for admission to the public and private sector medical and dental colleges in Punjab on Sunday.

The test was conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) simultaneously at 27 centres set up in Lahore, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Gujrat, Gujranwala Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Hasan Abdal under the supervision of more than 5,000 invigilators and other staff.

Last year, some 46,559 candidates took up the test. In Lahore, as many as 11,155 female and 5,635 male candidates appeared in the test held at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education examination halls at Lawrence Road, Punjab University halls at Wahdat Road, Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Government Central Model School Lower Mall, Government Postgraduate College for Women, Samanabad, University of Education, Township, and the Lahore College for Women University, Jail Road. The test was scheduled to start at 9am but the candidates started reaching their examination centres as early as 6am because of expected rain along with umbrellas and raincoats. A number of parents were seen reciting the Holy Quran for the success of their children at the waiting areas set up near the centres. Besides the traffic wardens, a large number of police personnel were deployed around the centres where ambulances and fire brigades were also made available. There were closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras, mobile phone jammers and walk-through gates at all the centres while proper arrangements were in place for the disabled students. Back-up power generators were also provided at some of the centres while Lahore Parking Company officials were also there to ensure that all vehicles were parked in order.

In Lahore, UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Aslam and Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Secretary Najam Ahmad Shah visited various centres.

Prof Aslam told newsmen at the Lawrence Road centre that medicine and dentistry continued to attract most brilliant students every year while demanding a system that was duly probing, robust and fair.

“There are around 10,000 more candidates appearing in the entrance test as compared to last year. This showed that the interest of candidates is increasing in medicine and dentistry,” said Prof Aslam.

In Rawalpindi, 7,204 candidates appeared in the test. The number of candidates in Multan was 8,097, Faisalabad 5,742, Gujranwala 3,188, Bahawalpur 2,649, Sargodha 2,246, Sahiwal 2,911, Gujrat 1,546, Dera Ghazi Khan 1,948, Rahim Yar Khan 1,813, Hasan Abdal 410 and Sialkot 1,728.

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

In the next stage, those candidates who will score 82 per cent or above aggregate marks in accordance with the formula of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council will be eligible to apply on `open merit basis’ and will opt for the colleges of their choice by submitting admission forms from Oct 3 to 15. The forms, along with the prospectus, will be available free of cost from UHS, Lahore, Nishtar Medical College, Multan, and Rawalpindi Medical College between Oct 3 and 15. The first selection list for medical and dental colleges will be displayed on Oct 28. There are 3,405 MBBS seats in 17 public sector medical colleges and 216 BDS seats in three public dental colleges of Punjab. There are around 3,500 MBBS and 800 BDS seats in 27 private sector medical colleges and 12 dental colleges of the province respectively.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016

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