ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of reports and acknowledging the stress and uncertainty faced by students, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has vowed to address the concerns of students over 2025-26 admission policy by involving the apex court.

The PMDC on Tuesday convened a council meeting regarding the admission policy. All key stakeholders, including the PMDC council members, vice chancellors, IBCC representatives and legal experts were called to the meeting.

Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services, attended as a special invitee.

“PMDC considers every student as part of its own family and remains steadfast in its commitment to support them. The Council is fully aware of students’ concerns and is prepared to provide complete cooperation across all platforms to ensure that students experience maximum ease and facilitation during this critical stage of their academic journey,” a spokesperson said.

The council members clarified that while the three-year validity of the MDCAT result was clearly defined by law, PMDC will always safeguard the interests of students and will never compromise on their future.

“Furthermore, all concerns and suggestions presented by student groups have been carefully considered, and PMDC will continue to provide full cooperation in court proceedings to ensure maximum relief and facilitation.

All viable options will be presented to the court with full transparency, and the court’s decision will be final and binding on all institutions and candidates. PMDC will implement the decision fully and without exception, ensuring that every student can move forward in their academic journey with confidence and certainty,” the spokesperson said.

It is worth mentioning that on October 26, more than 130,000 candidates competed for 22,000 seats in medical and dental colleges as the mandatory Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) was conducted nationwide at 32 venues, including an international centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Several institutions organised the test, including the University of Health Sciences in Lahore, Sukkur IBA University, Khyber Medical University in Peshawar, Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences in Quetta and Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2025