ISLAMABAD: Though the National Examination Board (NEB) exam has always remained controversial in the history of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the new management of the council tried to conduct the exam in a transparent manner by announcing the results the same day.

As many as 681 candidates appeared in the three-day exam, which concluded on Saturday, out of whom 522 were declared successful with a pass percentage of 76. To avoid any controversy, only associate professors and professors were allowed to conduct the exam and the British Council was requested to monitor the process.

The NEB test is conducted by the PMDC for those medical and dental graduates who completed their medical education abroad.

The exam was started after complaints that foreign medical graduates who studied in languages other than English faced problems in treating patients.

Moreover, there were also complaints about the quality of education.

In 2012, through an Act of parliament it was made mandatory for foreign graduates to pass the NEB test. However, some postgraduate qualifications such as Diploma of American Board, FRCS (UK) or equivalent were exempted from NEB.

But the exam became controversial when it was alleged that the former management of the PMDC, controlled by Dr Asim Hussain, was involved in corruption and passed candidates after receiving bribe.

In June 2015, a medical graduate, Zubair Khan, who had graduated from China, committed suicide. Khan’s father alleged that officials in the PMDC poisoned his son after receiving Rs1.8 million from him with an assurance that he would be cleared in the NEB test.

According to an official statement issued on Saturday, President PMDC Prof Dr Shabir Lehri said those who had done MBBS in languages other than English should clear the NEB test because it would help them in understanding medical terminologies. Moreover, there were also complaints about the quality of education in foreign universities.

Dr Lehri told Dawn that in the past the third phase of the NEB exam, including the practical test, was conducted in hotels and through simulators (artificial bodies).

“In January 2016, we decided that the exam would be held in medical colleges and the practical would be conducted on real patients instead of simulators. Moreover, in the past simple postgraduates used to conduct the exam but we decided that the conductors would be associate professors and professors,” he said.

The three-day exam, which started on February 11, was conducted by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (Pims) Islamabad at the Fatima Jinnah Medical University and Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, simultaneously.

“We decided to announce the results the same day because only that is how we can make the process transparent. So every day we announced the results,” he said.

Dr Lehri said in the past the management used to take two weeks to announce the results.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2016