NAWABSHAH: Entry tests scheduled for Oct 18 in all public and private medical and dental colleges and universities in Sindh including Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences (PUMHS) in Nawabshah were postponed in compliance with an order of Sindh High Court.

Provincial Admission Committee chairman Dr Gulshan Ali Memon, who was also Vice Chancellor of PUMHS, said in a press release issued on Friday that all entry tests for admission to public and private medical and dental colleges and universities in Sindh to be held on Oct 18 had been postponed till further orders in the light of instructions of SHC issued on Friday.

He said the new schedule would be announced soon. Prior to the postponement of the test, students were confused about which syllabus they would have to read to prepare for the test since Pakistan Medical Commission had informed chairman of the provincial committee in a letter that under section 18(3) of Pakistan Medical Commission Act, 2020, provincial governments had absolute right to frame admission policy and conduct tests for admissions.

However, under section 18(1) of the Act, a student seeking admission to a medical college, public or private, had to mandatorily pass the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) conducted by Pakistan Medical Commission all over Pakistan.

Hence, the entry test being conducted by provincial committee was considered to be an additional burden on students having already qualified the MDCAT exam.

The commission clarified that the syllabus of MDCAT was common and already issued by each provincial admission authority, hence, no student in Sindh or anywhere in Pakistan would need to study any additional syllabus or material.

The provincial committee then decided to go ahead with the test and the chairman Dr Memon argued that since his university was a public sector university, it would follow directives of Sindh government.

As differences between the provincial committee and Pakistan Medical Commission came to fore and caused great confusion among students, lawyer and social worker Jibran Nasir filed a constitutional petition in SHC requesting for postponement of the test.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2020