LAHORE: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has made the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) mandatory for admission to four and five-year undergraduate degree programmes of allied health sciences (AHS) in Punjab.

The admission to these programmes, including BSc (Hons) and Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), will be based on the same weightage criteria used to calculate merit for MBBS and BDS, that is 50 per cent weightage to MDCAT, 40 per cent to Intermediate, and 10 per cent to matriculation marks.

Admission to these programmes will be opened immediately after the declaration of the MDCAT result by the university while the classes in all institutions will start on Jan 15.

These decisions were taken at the 25th meeting of the Board of Studies in Allied Health Sciences on Thursday. UHS Institute of Allied Health Sciences’ head Prof Saqib Mahmood presided over the meeting in which principals and representatives of 34 affiliated institutions participated.

The board decided to add English language proficiency courses such as IELTS to the curricula.

This decision has been taken to increase the acceptability of Pakistani nurses and paramedics abroad and to provide better job opportunities.

All undergraduate AHS programmes were also approved to be gradually shifted to the semester system. The board members agreed to make the curricula of the four-year BSc (Hons) and five-year undergraduate programmes skill-based. On this occasion, various sub-committees were formed to revise the curricula.

It was decided that the undergraduate programmes would be shifted to the semester system from the upcoming session.

At the beginning of the meeting, UHS Vice Chancellor Professor Ahsan Waheed Rathore while said the field of allied health sciences was of great importance which was neglected in the past.

He said the promulgation of the Allied Health Professionals Council Act 2022 was a historical step as it would regulate the sector and improve the quality of practice.

The VC said the university and its affiliated institutions would run only those programmes that were included in the Act.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2023