LAHORE: The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and the Pakistan Association of Private Medical & Dental Institutions (PAMI) have reached an agreement that there shall be no system of central induction or like the one enforced for future admissions from 2021-22 session and that the automated system shall only be used for the upcoming session starting in Jan 2021.

The agreement submitted before the Lahore High Court further says that the automated portal system shall not be used for the purpose of admission in any medical college in the future.

Both the PMC and PAMI submitted the agreement through a joint application before the court in a pending matter relating to the new admission rules introduced by the commission.

The accord says the PMC shall put up the online admission portal with an automated system and students seeking admission to private colleges would apply on the portal submitting their FSc and HSSC marks. While applying for admission the students will have the choice to select as many colleges as they wish to join. The application fee charged by the PMC for use of the portal will be Rs500.

The PMC having conducted the MDCAT as per its Act shall calculate weightage up to 80 per cent of the aggregate -- 50 percent to MDCAT and 30 percent to FSc -- to determine merit of each applicant. Having calculated 80pc of the aggregate merit, PMC shall forward the entire list to all the relevant colleges on Jan 1, 2021, and these institutions shall carry out their own interviews having 20pc weightage.

Submit agreement to high court

Each college will display on its website the structure of the interview for the candidates before Nov 25, 2020. The colleges shall rate candidates performance in the interview and consolidate it with their MDCAT/FSc aggregate.

The colleges shall also finalise the total aggregate out of 100pc for final merit of the candidates and this aggregate shall be used by the colleges for the purpose of admission to the MBBS/BDS classes.

It has been agreed that the colleges shall provide to the PMC the final merit of all applicants after calculation of the 100pc merit aggregate on completion of interviews. The colleges shall not seek to admit any student other than those applying for admission to the college as per the list provided by the PMC. The admissions shall be concluded by all colleges by Feb 15, 2021.

If any seats remain vacant after Feb 15, each college shall have seven days to fill these from amongst the students who may have applied to other colleges, but did not obtain admission there, subject to them being interviewed by the college and admission being on merit.

As per the agreement, each college will publish on its website the final list of the admitted students and send it to its affiliated university, which will certify the same and send it to the PMC after verifying the students FSc degree and marks etc, directly.

Justice Jawad Hassan approved the agreement reached between the parties in order to avoid any delay or legal hindrance in the smooth running of the admission process for the academic year 2020-21 only.

Since certain provisions of the regulations were not in consonance with the mandate of the PMC Act 2020, the judge directed it to make necessary amendments to the regulations for securing the future of the medical students in a better way.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2020