LHC upholds PMC policy for admission to medical colleges

The Lahore High Court (LHC) upheld on Friday the decision of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) about calculating the students’ marks in elective subjects only for the purpose of admission to medical and dental colleges in 2021.

The court dismissed the petition filed by the fresh candidates along with the students who had completed their FSC in 2020. The petitioners had contended that the PMC decision was discriminatory towards the candidates who had completed their FSC in 2020 and/or post-2021.

“The policy decision of PMC to the extent represented by the Public Notice as such fully stands to reason and suffers from no inherent or illegal discriminatory feature being based on tenable classification and, therefore, warrants no interference in extraordinary Constitutional and discretionary jurisdiction of this Court,” the LHC ruled.

The PMC public notice stated that the candidates, who passed their FSC pre-medical or equivalent exam in the year 2021 and were seeking admission in medical or dental college for 2022-23 session, had been informed that only their elective subjects’ marks and percentage would be considered for merit.

As per PMC regulations, the admission process for medical education is based on a prescribed weightage formula in which MDCAT holds 50% weightage, FSC (pre-medical)/HSSC/equivalent holds 40% weightage and SSC/Matriculation/Equivalent holds 10% weightage.