MBBS examinations: Committee set up for expert opinion on question papers

Examination results reported cancelled before UHS clarifies.

LAHORE:

There was relief for MBBS students on Thursday protesting against out-of-syllabus question papers, biased marking and poor results in the third year examination. University of Health Sciences (UHS) formed a committee of experts to review the complaint about question papers. There was rumour that it had cancelled the results.

The anti-UHS slogans at the protest demonstrations in Lahore immediately turned into victory chants when one of the protesters announced that the results, allegedly wrong and biased, had been cancelled. He said that the decision had been made at the meeting between the UHS administration and the principals of affiliated medial colleges of the Punjab held earlier on Thursday.

As soon as the rumour spread, the story was also carried by some television channels.

A clarification was then issued by UHS spokesperson Muhammad Atif, who said that it had been a “misunderstanding.”

He told The Express Tribune that there was no basis for cancelling the results, “there is no such provision in the UHS rules.” He regretted that the cancellation rumour had been carried by some TV channels without checking with the UHS administration.

He said Thursday’s meeting between the UHS administration and principals of affiliated medical colleges was a routine one. He said the meeting, attended by principals of 28 colleges, had decided to set up independent committees of subject specialists to review question papers of second professional MBBS examination held in December 2011.

He said the committees had been set up on the recommendation of the principals. The committees, he said, will submit their reports in four to five days.

He the UHS had postponed, till further notification, the supplementary examination earlier scheduled to start from March 31.

Earlier protests by failed students spilled into the third day. The protesters gathered outside the UHS building in Lahore and at Nishtar Medical College in Multan. They continued to chant slogans against their December 2011 results and blocked the traffic for several hours demanding cancellation of result or rechecking of the answer papers.

In Faisalabad, protesting students halted the protest for five days. They said they will decide further action following the committee’s report.

Also in Multan, the protest was called off.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2012.