FAISALABAD, Nov 5: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) had to change its Biochemistry paper for MBBS First Professional (Part—II), held on Monday (Nov 4), after a tip-off that the question sheets had been leaked out, Dawn learnt on Tuesday.

It was second incident of question sheets’ leak in three days.

Earlier, on Nov 1, the sheets of the short essay questions (SEQs) and multiple choice questions (MCQs) of Anatomy (including Histology) of same the batch along with the answer key were leaked out.

Sources told Dawn that the UHS administration was informed on Sunday night that the question sheets of Biochemistry exam, scheduled for Monday, were leaked out and their copies were also sent to the incumbents of the university. They said that after through checking of the leaked Biochemistry question sheets, the university changed it to be sent to exam centres across Punjab.

Prof Dr Aamir Aziz, a member UHS Board of Governors, told Dawn that the BoG members held a meeting on Monday after information that papers of Anatomy and Biochemistry had been leaked out. He said the university had been given three to four days to trace the elements behind the leak. He said the leak of two question sheets along an answer key of Anatomy paper required review of the exam system because nobody could do this without the help of the UHS employees.

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Pakistan also confirmed on its official Facebook page that Biochemistry question sheets had been leaked out.

Talking to Dawn, YDA President Dr Rana Sohail demanded the UHS cancel Anatomy paper, saying that the question sheets of Biochemistry had also been leaked out and the YDA, as its proof, had pasted the leaked paper of short essay questions (SEQs) on its page on the social media. He said the leak of the question sheets exposed the system of secrecy of the university and the responsible employees should be given strict punishment.

UHS media coordinator Atif denied the reports of Biochemistry paper leak, saying the university had neither received any information of leak nor did it replace the old question sheets with a new one. He said the biochemistry paper had reached exam centers on Monday morning.

Refuting the claim of the UHS media coordinator, a doctor and an examiner in the UHS, said that when the university used to send all the question sheets before the start of professional examinations, why it sent the Biochemistry paper in the morning.

The university sources said two papers, scheduled to be held on Nov 8(Physiology) and Nov 11 (Islamic Studies/Ethics and Pak Studies) were already with the examination centres.

Pakistan Medical Association, Punjab, President Prof Dr Ashraf Nizami said the leak of papers was due to poor security system of the UHS.

He said no such ugly incidents happened when the Punjab University used to conduct the medical examination.

He said the university must get rid of the secrecy department officials to avoid reoccurrence of such incidents in the future.

He suggested the university to award grace marks to students instead of canceling the leaked papers.