Public medical schools: Admission board proposes entry test, tuition fee raise

Suggests PMDC regulations on merit list score be followed, ‘whatever they may be’.


Ali Usman May 13, 2012

LAHORE:


The Admission Board for Medical and Dental Institutions of the Punjab has recommended a new charge for sitting the entry test for medical colleges and a raise in tuition fees.


The board has submitted the admission policy for the 2012-13 session, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, to the Health Department. It suggests that the Punjab government, in view of its financial difficulties, charge each student a fee of Rs1,000 for the entrance test, which was free last year. The board said that the fee would pay for the cost of organising the entrance test.

The board also proposed that the tuition fee be raised from the existing Rs11,521 per year to Rs15,000 per year to improve facilities in public medical colleges.

It said that Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) regulations be followed for the calculation of the merit list score for admission to public medical colleges, “whatever they may be”.

Last year, students were given a composite score with 50 per cent weight given to the entry test, 40 per cent to the intermediate exams, and 10 per cent to the matriculation exams.

On February 2, a PMDC committee recommended that the matriculation results be removed from the equation. The merit list score would then be calculated with 50 per cent weight given to the entrance test and 50 per cent to the intermediate exams. But the PMDC has yet to notify the new formula.

AJK seats

The admissions board suggested that the number of seats reserved for students from Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) be reduced since two public medical colleges had recently been opened in Mirpur and Muzaffarabad. Last year, 39 seats were reserved for students from AJK. The board has asked the Health Department how many seats will be reserved for AJK in 2012-12.

The board proposed September 23 as the date for the entrance test and December 10 for the start of MBBS classes. Some 35,000 students are expected to sit the test. Test centres will be established in Rawalpindi and Hasan Abdal in northern Punjab; Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sargodha and Sahiwal in central Punjab; and Bahawalpur, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan and DG Khan in southern Punjab.

The question paper for the 150-minute entrance test shall consist of 220 multiple choice questions in four sections: 44 in the physics section, 58 in chemistry, 30 in English and 88 in the biology section. The test is worth a total of 1,100 marks with each correct answer worth five marks. Each wrong answer will result in a one mark deduction.

The board approved a common entrance test for both FSc and non-FSc (A-level) students. It will have the same syllabus as the one last year, which was prepared by the University of Health Sciences (UHS).

Foreign students wishing to sit the entrance test must have passed an examination equivalent to the intermediate level in Pakistan, as certified by the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen, with at least 60 per cent marks. The candidates must present a valid TOFEL or IELTS result with a minimum score of 500 or 5.5, respectively, if their medium of instruction of study for two years prior to applying for admission or the entrance test was not English.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.

COMMENTS (4)

Alisha | 11 years ago | Reply

What is the maximum number and percentage to give entry test for medical ?and which may be the month fog entry test hopefully

kamran | 11 years ago | Reply

entry test should be given 70% weight age and fsc should be 30%..

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