The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has issued the revised schedule for the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) across the country
The MDCAT examination will start in six major cities in the first phase from September 14 as the examination in other cities has been delayed due to flooding.
A total of over 0.2 million students will appear in the MDCAT examination to be held phase-wise and the roll number slips of candidates are likely to be issued in a day or so.
On the instructions of the federal health ministry, the PMC has issued the revised schedule of the MDCAT examination. According to the revised schedule, the first phase of the exam will be held on September 14 in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Lahore and Mirpur Azad and Jammu Kashmir and Lahore.
In the second phase, the MDCAT exam will be held in Abbottabad and Muzaffarabad on September 24. In the third phase, the MDCAT exam will be held in Karachi, Abbottabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Peshawar and Sahiwal on September 28.
In the fourth phase, the MDCAT exam will be held in Nawabshah, Khairpur and Dera Ghazi Khan on October 1. In the fifth phase, the MDCAT exam will be held in Gilgit on October 7. In the sixth phase, the MDCAT examination will be held in Quetta and Swat on October 10. The MDCAT exams will be held in Dera Ghazi Khan on October 16.
A spokesperson for the PMC said that examination centres will be under the radar to conduct the examinations to ensure transparency. He asked the students to reach their examination centres well ahead of time as roads in many cities have been badly damaged and traffic disruption could not be ruled out.
He said that at least 450 students will appear in each examination centre while an online portal has been kept open allowing the students to change their examination centres and shifts ahead of the examination.
Earlier, The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services called for deferring the MDCAT test 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.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2022.
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