Senate panel calls for deferring MDCAT test

Senators say recent floods take heavy toll on students

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on National Health  Services  (NHS)  on  Thursday called for de-ferring  the  Medical  and  Dental  College  Admission  Test  (MDCAT)  entry  test,  whether  to  be  conducted  by provinces of the federal government,  for  at  least  two months in the wake of recent floods.

Committee Chairman Senator Dr Muhammad Humayun also maintained that the MDCAT exams should also be conducted as per the PMDC bill, which is yet to become an act.

Earlier,  the  senate  body approved the amendment bill  to  restore  the  defunct  Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) by abolishing the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC).The committee chairman said that since the bill was to be passed eventually, “we support the government in the  larger  interest  of  the students.”

He said that there was no point in keeping the students uncertain.Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi  said  that  students  were already suffering from  psychological  issues  due to the coronavirus and now by the floods. Senator Rubina  Khalid  said  that  the  students  were  in  no  position  to  appear  in  the  exams anytime soon.

The  committee  urged  the  health  ministry  to  take appropriate  steps  to  ease  the pain of the students of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, who have been affected by floods.The  special  secretary  to the health ministry informed the panel that the entry  test  for  students  of  Balochistan  and  K-P  has  been delayed till September 14. 

He  said  that  further delay was expected due to floods and the impending decision on the PMDC bill.The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services Regulations
and Coordination also raised the issue of children below  10  years  of  age  suffering  from  Anemia  and stunted growth.

The  committee  was  told that  Pakistan  was among  the countries in the world with the highest burden of malnutrition.According to National Survey  (NNS)  2018,  it  was  told, an estimated 40.2 per cent of children under the  age  of  five  years  were  chronically  malnourished  and  nearly  17.7  per  cent  were acutely malnourished and both these figures exceed the WHO emergency threshold levels.

The  ministry  said  that  the nutrition wing in col-laboration with provincial departments of health, UN agencies and NGOs was  working on  stunting  prevention, counselling and  supplementation  for  prevention, infant and young  children  feeding,  breastfeeding  promotion  and protection, community management of acute malnutrition and food fortification through the National Fortification Alliance, Adolescent  Nutrition  and  Elimination of Trans-Fatty Acids.

The Senate panel also took up the application of Sahibzada Abu Zar, a 2nd-year medical student studying in Ukraine, seeking to accommodate Pakistan medical students, who had  suffered  due  to  war and now seeking admission to  Pakistani  medical  colleges.

Pakistani Ukrainian students  have  requested an exemption from the National Equivalency Board Exam  (NEB)  based  on  an  extraordinary situation.

PMC officials proposed that  as  a  special  case,  the  Council has considered the subject matter and approved  a  policy  to  adjust Pakistani  students  studying in Ukrainian medical  institutions,  seeking transfer to necessarily undergo the NEB exam with certain exemption only for the 2021-2022 session and all admission  will  be  subject  to the availability of vacant seats and rules of the universities concerned.

The  committee  directed  the  Council  to  facilitate  the Russia-Ukrainian war-affected students and make all updates and syllabi available  on  the  website  for timely correspondence.