ISLAMABAD: A clear majority of members of a parliamentary committee on Wednesday suggested blacklisting the company that was involved in conducting the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT).

This suggestion came just a day after a ceremony by Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) in which MDCAT toppers were awarded with cash prizes and certificates.

The meeting of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on National Health Services was chaired by Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) legislator Khalid Hussain Magsi and held in a committee room of the Ministry of Health.

It is worth mentioning that the exam, which is compulsory to get admission to medical and dental colleges, was held in September and around 200,000 candidates participated in it.

SAPM urges medical students to wait for court’s decision in matter

Additional Secretary (Health) Nabeel Awan spoke in favour of the PMC and said it had been ensuring merit. He said if erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) had 10 seats of medical colleges and three seats had to be increased, then three seats of Punjab would have to be slashed.

However, representatives of students also reached there and said they were inducted under rules of 2008 and 2018 but were being forced to appear in the National Licencing Exam (NLE). Medical students have been directed by PMC to appear in the exam before starting practice.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said the issue was in the court and medical students should wait for the court’s decision. He said around 10,000 students had registered for the exam and credibility of the exam was increasing.

MNA Mohsin Dawar, who is not member of the committee but was attending the meeting as mover of the bill, said holding an exam after MBBS was like showing lack of trust on the system. He said students should not say that only a few batches should be exempted from test.

Mr Sultan pointed out that a system was being introduced to keep mafias at bay and students would easily clear the exam. Apart from PTI legislator Nasir Khan, all members spoke against MDCAT.

Committee members were informed that out of 196,000 students only 68,000 passed the MDCAT however 20,000 seats are available in private and public medical colleges. The committee was of the view that irregularities were reported in the MDCAT test conducted by the firm who had no past experience in connection to this. Members recommended that the firm should be blacklisted and PMC should organise the test again through renowned universities.

Nasir Khan Musa Zai, Jai Parkash, Dr Nousheen Hamid, Fozia Behram, Dr Seemi Bukhari, Dr Nisar Ahmed Cheema, Dr Samina Matloob. Dr Darshan, Mahesh Kumar Malani, Ramesh Lal, Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam and Shamsun Nisa were present at the meeting.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2021