PESHAWAR: Caretaker Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan has approved the plan of Khyber Medical University to re-conduct the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) on Nov 26, and has also formed a committee to ensure foolproof security at all the centres.

A meeting held here the other day under the chief minister took stock of arrangements for the test, according to a press release.

It decided to have foolproof arrangements to ensure that the test was held in a transparent manner.

Adviser to chief minister for health Dr Riaz Anwar, chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, additional chief secretary home Abid Majeed, KMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Ziaul Haq and others attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to constitute a committee under the additional chief secretary home to implement the action plan in letter and spirit.

It was also decided to assign special tasks to police, district administrations, intelligence agencies and other departments concerned for holding MDCAT with utmost transparency.

CM Azam Khan termed the practice of cheating in examinations a menace, and said strict measures were needed to get rid of it. He assured that the provincial government would extend all the required security, financial, administrative and technical support for holding the test in a transparent manner.

The meeting was informed that examination centres would be set up in seven districts, including DI Khan, Kohat, Peshawar, Mardan, Lower Dir, Swat and Abbottabad.

It was further informed that a total of 46,220 registered candidates would participate in MDCAT, whereas 219 candidates, who were found involved in cheating during the previous test, had been blacklisted.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023