ISLAMABAD: At least 2,000 foreign medical graduates have applied for the National Registration Exam (NRE), which will be held in two phases in June and July, with the deadline for the registration ending today.

According to Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Registrar Dr Imdad Khushk, “While just one day has been left, as many as 2000 foreign medical graduates have applied for the National Registration Exam, which will start from June 2 this year.”

He made these remarks at E-Kutchery on Monday. Under the PMDC Act, two sessions of NRE will be conducted each year and the council has proposed dates for the two NRE sessions. Dr Imdad suggested medical graduates apply for the NRE so that the maximum number of graduates would be accommodated in the exam.

“Within a few days applicants will get the response from the council and will be intimated about any deficiencies in the applications. The Step-I of NRE will be held on June 2 and Step-II will be held on July 21-22. If candidates are not adjusted on these dates, their exam will be held on July 28-29,” he said.

Two exams to held in June-July and Nov-Dec; two sessions to be conducted every year

About the second session of the NRE, Step-I will be held on November 24 and Step-II will be held on December 28-29. In case the number of candidates exceeds the limit, they will be accommodated in the first week of January next year.

Dr Imdad said that the council was making preparations for the Medial and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) and the date for the exam would be conveyed later.

It is worth mentioning that the NRE syllabus was approved on April 30, 2024. One session of the NRE was held in 2023, but in 2022 at least three sessions of the exam, which was called the National Licensing Exam (NLE) at the time, were held under the defunct Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC).

Calling Attention Notice

Meanwhile, discussing a calling attention notice moved by the PTI lawmakers, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, said the authorities had decided to hold two sessions of the exam during the ongoing year starting on June 2. The passing percentage for the exam has been reduced from 70 per cent to 60pc.

The government cannot reduce the marks to 50pc to ensure the quality of medical education, he said in response to the demands of some lawmakers.

“There are some precedents in which doctors did not go overseas but have done MBBS from abroad,” he claimed.

According to the law minister, during the previous exam, the passing marks were 70pc but none of the candidates were able to clear it. After this, a decision was made to reduce the passing marks to 60pc and the exam was restructured as well, he added. The exams will be conducted by the National University of Medical Sciences. The notice was moved by PTI lawmakers Zartaj Gul, Shahid Ahmed, Shabbir Qureshi, Amjad Ali Khan, and Jamshed Dasti ( who skipped the proceedings).

PPP leader and former health minister Qadir Patel, while speaking on the point of order, supported the PTI’s demand, saying the passing marks for medical colleges should be 50-55pc and 45pc for dental colleges. He also demanded that the decision taken by the caretaker government to ban new private medical colleges be reversed as it was beyond their mandate.

Last year, at least 10,000 medical and dental students in Pakistan who graduated from local medical colleges were exempted from the National Licensing Exam – a test declared mandatory by the defunct Pakistan Medical Commission in 2020.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2024