KARACHI: An unnecessarily long time the government has taken in making public much-awaited findings of the inquiry into the allegations of paper leak of the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) has created doubts over the credibility of the entire exercise, it emerged on Thursday.

Nearly 40,000 male and female candidates in Sindh had taken the MDCAT conducted by Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) for 1,700 open merit seats on Sept 10.

When reports of alleged paper leak and wrongdoing surfaced, the JSMU formed an inquiry committee but on Sept 19 the Sindh government had formed its own an inquiry committee that was required to submit its reports within a week. However, there was no official word on its fate even after more than two weeks, putting at stake the future of hundreds of thousands students across Sindh.

“This delay is absolutely unreasonable and unjustified and has created doubts over the inquiry’s credibility. It seems efforts are underway to save someone’s skin,” said Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA).

Inquiry committee formed by Sindh govt handed over report to CM, says official

The delay had affected the entire system of medical education and allied health sciences, he added.

He regretted that while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had announced a retake of the paper, the Sindh government seemed “indifferent and clueless”.

“At the PMA, we daily attend to some 20 to 25 calls from students as well as their parents worried over their children’s future. They are frustrated and disappointed but there is nothing that we could offer to help. The government, however, seems least bothered,” he said.

Dr Faizan Hussain Memon of the Young Doctors’ Association questioned the delay in a case that had “plenty of evidence”.

“The [MDCAT] paper was viral on all social media platforms in the evening a day prior to the scheduled examination. The government should have acted swiftly and cancelled the paper. But, it didn’t, why? It allowed some people to make money and it seems that the culprit was within the system,” he said.

The YDA had been protesting against the MDCAT paper leak across Sindh for over a month.

“The people who have played with student’s futures must be given exemplary punishment. The government would inflict great harm to the masses and society if it allowed students misusing means to get admitted to medical education,” he said, while demanding that the paper should be re-taken immediately in a transparent manner.

Probe report handed over to CM

Asked about the delay in making public the MDCAT inquiry report, a spokesperson for the health minister said, “The inquiry report has been submitted to the chief minister. It’s now up to him to release its findings as they are or take a decision on the basis of the committee’s recommendations.”

Sources, however, said that the findings of the report would be made public in a press statement to be released in a day or two.

They said apart from other factors delaying the investigation, the government decision to make one committee after another also slowed up the process.

The first committee was set up by the JSMU on Sept 13 following the MDCAT held on Sept 10. Later, it was dissolved over concerns related to its impartiality after the government set up its own probe body.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2023