The University of Karachi (KU) has deferred all medical examinations, including those of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), following an outcry by students over "out-of-course" questions, it emerged on Wednesday.
Confirming this, KU acting examination controller Dr Zafar Hussain told The Express Tribune that exams for at least three courses of MBBS and all courses of BDS, which were to begin next week, had been cancelled.
The exam for the MBBS medicine course was cancelled last week, immediately after students complained about out-of-syllabus questions. Later, the exams for gynaecology and obstetrics, to be held on October 21 and October 23, were cancelled. Following this, all BDS exams, scheduled from October 26 to November 5, were also cancelled.
Elaborating on this, Dr Hussain said the teachers who devised question papers for MBBS courses had also prepared question papers for BDS courses.
"After complaints of the MBBS exams being out of syllabus, we didn't want to take any risk with the BDS exams," he said, explaining why all BDS papers had been cancelled.
Dr Shaista of the Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC) reportedly prepared the question paper for the courses of medicine, while Dr Ghazala, also from the KMDC, prepared that of the surgery course and the teacher who had prepared the questions for the gynaecology course was in Canada on vacation.
Furthermore, according to sources in the KU, who requested anonymity, the question paper for MBBS Final Professional exam this year was in fact a copy of the one devised for students wanting to pursue further studies in the United Stated after the completion of their MBBS in Pakistan.
According to the sources, the medicine department dean has been instructed to probe into the matter and identify the persons responsible for the fault.
Besides lodging complaints at the varsity regarding the inclusion of out-of-syllabus questions in examinations, students had staged protests outside the KU's examination cell.
According to the sources, the KU does not intend to hold MBBS and BDS examinations in the near future.
The only medical college affiliated with the KU in Karachi is KMDC, while the affiliation of all private colleges was transferred to Jinnah Sindh Medical University during the tenure of former KU vice-chancellor Dr Muhammad Qaiser.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2020.
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