ISLAMABAD: A Senate standing committee on Thursday endorsed the decision of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to introduce its own question bank for next year’s Medical and Dental Colleges’ Admission Test (MDCAT) to avoid chances of paper leakage.

The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) took notice of the paper leak of MDCAT held on September 22. Officials of PMDC informed the members that a university had denied allegations of paper leak. However, upon filing of complaints by students with Sindh High Court, the court suspended the result announced by Dow University of Health Sciences and constituted a committee, comprising FIA, two secretaries and a nominee of PMDC.

“The FIA forensic report revealed that the paper of MDCAT was leaked 13 hours before the scheduled time of exam,” the officials said.

Chairman of the committee Senator Amir Waliuddin Chisti remarked that students who passed the matriculation and intermediate examination with marginal marks had somehow succeeded in getting 197 marks out of 200 in MDCAT. He directed PMDC to submit a plan for MDCAT before the end of December. He said in future the test should be IT based to curb cheating and PMDC should make the question bank public in order to resolve the matter of out of syllabus questions once and for all.

Furthermore, the Senate committee deliberated on the disparity in charges for lab tests.

Senator Mohsin Aziz, mover of the matter, stated that the price of several basic tests varied in the market.

“For instance, the price of lipid profile test varies from Rs2400 to Rs2600 and the same is the case with a urine test whose rate varied from Rs550 to Rs950,” he said.

Officials informed the meeting that the law doesn’t empower the regulator to control the prices of private sector.

Senator Anusha Rahman was of view that there should be a benchmark for prices in all private sector laboratories.

The committee recommended that the ministry should make it obligatory for all private laboratories to display prices of tests in their laboratories.

Doctors approach committee against Pims ED

The committee heard complaints from doctors against the executive director of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for alleged racism, nepotism, workplace harassment and misuse of power.

A total of 26 doctors submitted their grievances, claiming that the ED was the real hindrance to their promotions and allocation of residences was made entirely on the basis of racism and nepotism.

However, Pims’ Executive Director Rana Imran Sikander refuted all the allegations.

The lawmakers recommended that the ministry constitute a committee to probe the complaints and submit its findings before the Senate health committee.

Discussing the black marketing of contrast injections used for CT scans, officials of NHS said the product was available in markets and hospitals, and there was no shortage in the markets.

Senators Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan, Mohsin Aziz, Irfanul Haque Siddiqui, Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan, Syed Masroor Ahsan, Mohammad Humayun Mohmand, Fawzia Arshad, consultant to Senate Standing Committee NHS Syed Mohammad Ali, Prime Minister’s Coordinator for National Health Services Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath, Secretary Health Nadeem Mahbub, PMDC President Dr Rizwan Taj and other senior officials attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2024