ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has rescheduled the first step of the National Registration Examination (NRE) from Oct 11 to Nov 8.

NRE is a mandatory requirement under an Act of Parliament, aimed at ensuring transparency, standardisation, and quality in medical and dental education and professional practice in Pakistan.

In a notification dated Oct 5, the PMDC cited “unavoidable circumstances” for the move and said Step-1 of the NRE exam will now be held on Nov 8 (Sunday).

A senior PMDC official told Dawn on Wednesday that the decision was made due to the prevailing political situation and possible road closures.

The rescheduling comes after the PTI on Oct 4 launched a long march from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa towards Islamabad, despite warnings from the federal government against such a move.

Authorities in Rawalpindi Division and the federal capital territory had intensified security arrangements to maintain law and order ahead of the PTI’s planned march.

The march began from Lakki Marwat, reached the outskirts of Peshawar last night and plans to move towards Khairabad — which borders Punjab — by Oct 8, where the KP chief minister will announce the next plan of action.

The National University of Medical Sciences in Rawalpindi is entrusted with conducting NRE to “ensure credibility, integrity, and transparency,” according to the PMDC.

The exam is conducted in two steps at least twice a year in accordance with the approved NRE standards, structure, and syllabus, and as per a curriculum on par with the medicine and dentistry degrees in Pakistan.

Foreign medical graduates who have earned degrees in medicine or dentistry in languages other than English have to clear two steps or the NRE exam in order to start house job and get a licence to practice in Pakistan.