Medical education: ‘A Level physics mandatory for med school’

PMDC says IBCC notification ‘unreasonable’, without authority.

LAHORE:

The Inter Board Committee of Chairman (IBCC) and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) are at odds over college admission requirements for students who sit A-Levels exams, with the former insisting that those who do not study physics cannot gain admission to medical school.

The IBCC, whose job is to determine equivalence criteria for the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) for students of foreign systems, sent a notification to this effect to the PMDC. “Physics, chemistry and biology are compulsory for issuance of equivalence of HSSC (pre-medical group) of Pakistan. Mathematics in lieu of physics will not be considered for pre-medical equivalence,” reads the notification.

“The PMDC and any allied medical college/universities shouldn’t determine the equivalence criteria for HSSC level in the presence of the IBCC, which is authorised by the Government of Pakistan to do the same. Therefore, the IBCC impresses upon all concerned to ensure that such an encroachment by the PMDC is not accepted.”

The PMDC, on the other hand, says that it is the council’s job to determine what students are eligible to enter medical college and the IBCC is encroaching on its turf. “The PMDC doesn’t accept your resolution as determining eligibility for admission in medical and dental courses is the sole domain of the PMDC,” reads the council’s notification sent to the IBCC in response. “It is noted with concern that the IBCC has not appreciated the difference between equivalence and eligibility and that the IBCC’s stance is unreasonable.”

The PMDC said that its eligibility criteria for admission to MBBS and BDS courses were that the candidate must have passed a set of examinations equivalent to Pakistan’s intermediate level exams from a foreign education system in three science subjects, two of which must be biology and chemistry, and with at least 60 per cent marks in each.

The council said that the board’s requirements were unreasonable. “To be fair to the public, the IBCC should work with the PMDC and should not apply the Pakistani scheme of studies on foreign schemes of studies as it is unreasonable,” reads the notification.

Previously, students who didn’t study physics at A-Level were eligible for admission to medical colleges. Nimra Arif studied biology, business studies, chemistry and mathematics at A Level. The IBCC granted her an equivalence certificate in 2009 and she is currently a medical student.

Haris Khwaja studies chemistry, biology and mathematics at A Level. “I chose these subjects so I could keep my options open and possibly apply for MBBS, as did several of my seniors. I need an equivalence certificate. Such rules shouldn’t be introduced at a time when students have almost completed their term,” he said.

IBCC additional secretary Muhammad Usman said that the board’s Curriculum Wing had recommended the physics requirement. “Schools abroad offer courses in physics at intermediate levels and we just want students to have studied physics. If they haven’t they can take a course of it here to get admission into a medical school,” he said.

Dr Muhammad Javed, the medical superintendent of Ganga Ram Hospital, said that knowledge of physics was important for medical students. “There are many things related to physics in MBBS. I think it is important to have studied physics at intermediate,” he said.

Prof Javed Akram, principal of Allama Iqbal Medical College, said 15-20 per cent of the MBBS syllabus required knowledge of physics. “Students don’t get their concepts clear in those topics if they don’t have a background in physics,” he said “It is especially important when studying eye diseases.”

PMDC registrar Dr Ahmad Naeem Akbar said it wasn’t the IBCC’s job to decide who was eligible to go to medical school. “We should both work in our own domain. They should determine equivalence and leave the eligibility criteria to us,” he said.

He said that introducing the physics requirement at this stage might set back several students who had planned to apply to medical colleges this year.

“In foreign countries many students don’t take physics in A Levels. The same is true here,” he said.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.