LAHORE: Around 65,000 candidates, including 41,000 female and 24,000 male, will appear in Punjab Medical and Dental Colleges’ Admission Test (MDCAT) tomorrow (Sunday).

The test shall be conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS).

The government has finalised the arrangements for the test by deputing senior bureaucrats as monitoring officers whereas medical professors will conduct the test. The divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners will act as ‘focal persons’ to look after the arrangements. The UHS has deputed around 5,500 invigilators and around 1,000 superintendents and deputy superintendents for conducting of the test, according to a handout.

The test shall be held simultaneously at 28 centres established in 13 cities of Punjab, namely Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Sargodha, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot, DG Khan, and Hasan Abdal. It shall start at 9am. The candidates, however, must reach their centres at least one hour before the commencement of the test as all the centres would be sealed at 08:15am and nobody would be allowed to enter after that.

In Lahore, eight centres have been established at the examination halls of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Lawrence Road; examination halls of the Punjab University, Wahdat Road; Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Wahdat Road; University of Education, Township; Lahore College for Women University, Jail Road; Govt. Postgraduate College for Women, Samanabad; Divisional Public School Model Town and Government College of Science, Wahdat Road, where around 19,000 candidates will sit the test.

Briefing on the arrangement of the test, UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Junaid Sarfraz Khan said the chief secretary Punjab had directed all departments concerned to make immaculate arrangements for smooth conduct of the admission test.

The district administration had finalised the security and logistic plans at their respective centres, he said and added that the district police officers would be responsible for security and deployment of police personnel at the centres. Police would ensure extensive patrol and technical sweeping of the area before the start of the test. Walk-through gates and mobile jammers would be installed at all major centres. Restrictions would be imposed under Section 144 on the entry of unauthorised persons to the premises of examination centres, UHS VC said. Traffic police had been directed to make proper traffic and parking arrangements to ensure smooth flow of traffic near the test centres, he said.

The UHS has already issued roll numbers and instructions to the candidates. Candidates are not allowed to bring any cell phones, calculators, laptops, watches or notes to the centres. Each candidate has already been issued admittance card with specific QR code.

According to the regulations of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), it is mandatory for a candidate to appear in the provincial entry test for admission to any public or private medical / dental college of the province.

This year, the candidates shall compete for 3,405 MBBS seats in 17 public sector medical colleges and 216 BDS seats in 03 public dental colleges of the province. Besides, there are 2590 MBBS seats available in 21 private medical colleges and 555 BDS seats in 09 private dental colleges affiliated with the university.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017