LAHORE, Jan 28: The Punjab government has allocated 89 more reserved seats in the seven medical colleges in the province.

The new allocation includes 21 quota seats for doctors’ children and 14 for armed forces.

The Punjab medical and dental colleges admission board had at the time of seeking applications for pre-admission entry test advertised 1,528 seats, including 54 on quota basis.

The break-up of 54 reserved seats advertised was: 12 for disabled students, seven each for Afghan refugee and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) students, and 28 for students from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Areas. There was no reserved seat for doctors’ children and armed forces.

In the light of a Supreme Court directive on quota seats for admission to the medical colleges of the Punjab for the session 2001-2002, these 54 reserved seats have been converted into merit seats.

The break-up of additional seats is: 21 for doctors’ children, 14 for armed forces, 28 for students from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Areas, 12 for disabled students and seven each for Afghan refugees and FATA.

It was learnt that the status of 93 seats — 65 for foreign students under the Technical Assistance Programme and 28 on self-finance basis — will be determined after clarification from the Economic Affairs Division of the Pakistan government.

When contacted, admission board chairman Prof Mumtaz Hasan said the admission board would finalize the merit for the 54 seats converted into merit and 89 new quota seats from the candidates declared eligible after the results of pre-admission entry test.

He said that the board may select a few students from the top students left after finalizing the list of top 2,006 candidates.

Prof Hasan said the new lists would be displayed in a couple of days.