PMC rejects lowering MDCAT pass percentage

Says commission will not register doctors who get admission with 50% marks in entry test

KARACHI:

Leaders of Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) Karachi have expressed concern over the takeover of KMC hospitals by Sindh government and said that the condition of KMC hospitals is definitely bad but the solution to this problem does not lie in subordinating them to the Sindh health department.

The PMC will not recognise students with a passing percentage of less than 65 per cent and will not even register them if they become doctors.

A press conference was organised by Pakistan Medical Association at Karachi Press Club in which PIMA Karachi president Prof. Abdullah Muttaqi, General Secretary Dr. Zeeshan Hussain and Member of the Working Committee Dr. Sanwar Ali participated.

Addressing the press conference, the PIMA leaders said that the Sindh government should first consider the condition of the existing health centres in the province. Patients do not even have access to medicines in Sindh hospitals including Karachi. Radiology machines are faulty and the department is understaffed. Plans for most hospitals have been incomplete for many years.

In such cases, instead of improving these hospitals, more hospitals have been handed over to the health department. The health department should provide budget to KMC to improve the condition of hospitals.

Read More: Students challenge MDCAT test results

At present, the dispute between the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and the Sindh Health Department over the issue of MDCAT 2021 is intensifying. Neither the PMC nor the Sindh Health Department is ready to back down. New Year's classes in medical colleges have been delayed. The coronavirus has also hampered education over the past year. As a result of all this, students and parents are suffering from anxiety and dilemma.

The Sindh government has announced not only to decrease the passing percentage of entrance test for admissions in medical colleges from 65 to 50 per cent but has also authorised the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University Larkana to start process for admission in MBBS and BDS in private medical colleges.

The PIMA has urged the PMC and Sindh Health Department to find a solution.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2021.