ISLAMABAD: Medical universities have agreed to conduct the Medical and Dental Colleges’ Admission Test (MDCAT) on November 13 or 20 this year.

The admission criteria will be based on the marks of MDCAT 50pc, FSC 40pc and SSC 10pc while the syllabus will remain the same as announced by the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC).

Almost 202,500 students have registered with the PMC to appear in the medical colleges’ entry test this year. The answer key will be published on the PMC website the same day from where the candidates will be able to verify their results through carbon copies. Quota for handicapped candidates will be 2pc of the total seats in all the public sector universities.

Moreover, PMC will provide a single uniform paper for candidates and the exam will be conducted on the same date and same time across the country.

Varsities agree to conduct MDCAT at provincial level with syllabus already announced

These decisions were taken at a meeting held by PMC President Professor Noushad A. Shaikh with all public universities’ vice chancellors (VCs) from Islamabad, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The meeting was also attended by PMC Vice President Dr Khurshid Naseem and VCs Prof Dr Mohammad Saleem, Prof Dr Jawad Ahmed, Arshad Khan, Dr Moosa Khan, Prof Dr Farman Wazir and Prof Dr Tanveer Khan.

The vice chancellors unanimously agreed to the proposal of holding MDCAT at the provincial level with the minimum percentage of 55 for admission to MBBS and 45 for BDS.

According to a statement, the PMC president informed the meeting that the policy was applicable only for the year 2022. For the candidates who appeared in the previous two years (2020/2021), the policy of the respective years will be applicable on their MDCAT certificates.

He said almost 202,500 students had registered with the PMC to appear in the entry test. The admitting universities of Sindh, Islamabad and KP agreed to conduct the MDCAT on November 13 or 20, 2022. The quota for handicapped candidates will remain the same at 2pc in all the public sector universities.

The PMC will provide a single uniform paper to all candidates and the exam will be conducted on the same date and time for the whole country.

He added that the answer key will be published on the PMC website the same day from where the candidates can verify their results from the carbon copies. The result shall be provided to the PMC by the universities in three daysafter the exam while the consolidated result will be announced in one week.

It was proposed in the meeting that the admission portal will be open right after the announcement of the results and will close for the MBBS programme in public sector colleges on December 31, 2022, in private sector on January 31, 2023, for public sector BDS on February 15 and private sector BDS on February 28.

The classes for MBBS will start on Feb 1 and for BDS on March 1.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2022