ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has said over 100,000 candidates have registered themselves for the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Tests (MDCAT) in just 10 days.

It said the students have also selected their centre of choice from among 22 centres in Pakistan and 10 abroad and also selected their preferred date for taking the exam.

PMC opened registration for MDCAT on May 25 and announced that the admission test will be held from September 7 to September 30 in Pakistan and abroad.

According to a statement, the PMC envisions improving the standards of healthcare delivery in Pakistan by fostering an environment that produces healthcare practitioners who imbibe the values of compassion, commitment and excellence.

Test for admission to medical, dental colleges will be held from Sept 7 to 30

“The PMC strives to improve healthcare education through the advancement of quality medical and dental education in Pakistan. It successfully implemented and conducted the single largest computer-based MDCAT examination in Pakistan to ensure that every student entering the field of medical study has the necessary aptitude, knowledge concepts, and analytical skills required for a rigorous medical and dental training programme,” it stated.

PMC has devised a comprehensive complaint management system to facilitate students/stakeholders having any issue and for the prompt redressal of their concerns and queries.

If any student having registered or wanting to get themselves registered has any queries or issues, they can contact the commission through the online complaint management system at https://cmspmc.com/registerComplaint.aspx. The students can also edit their profile, change their selected centre or check the status of the payment clearance.

MDCAT is mandatory for admission to medical and dental colleges. Last year, computer-based tests were held in September in 22 cities across Pakistan and six international locations.

However, students and the health community alleged that a company - SOAR Testing and Evaluation Platform - that conducted the test under a joint venture was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) well after the due date of filing bids in May 2021.

The PMC also faced allegations that it released an advance payment of over Rs115 million to the company. The Lahore High Court (LHC) on August 17 stopped the PMC from making further payment to the company but another payment of Rs86 million was made on August 31.

Moreover, LHC had referred the matter to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) to investigate the matter if the contract had been awarded to the company against rules. It was also alleged that the company lacked the National Tax Number (NTN) and it used another company’s NTN to get the contract.

This year, PMC initially started the bidding process for hiring a firm to hold the computer-based MDCAT but later cancelled the bidding process after criticism from stakeholders. A case was also filed in the LHC that a “tailor-made” tender had been floated for the hiring of the same company.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2022