Meritorious madness

Lack of coordination between institutions for ‘close off’ dates means students were unable to apply for other courses.

Administrative disarray and disorganisation — a feature we are all familiar with in our country — has meant, according to a media report, that some 3,620 ‘top merit students’, who could not get admissions to MBBS and BDS for the 2012-13 session, failed even to gain admissions to study their second choice of subject, biomedical sciences. Though the 3,500-plus missed out on MBBS or BDS seats only by a few marks, they found they could not gain access to graduate level courses linked to the medical or health sciences at either private or government institutions because they had ended their admission process two months before the UHS displayed its final merit list on November 26, 2012.

It may be noted that many of these candidates had scored the same or better grades than those gaining admission to medical colleges last year, because of a higher merit worked out this time round, as per the formula of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. The lack of coordination between institutions in terms of ‘close off’ dates for MBBS/BDS admissions and other related courses meant top students were unable to apply for the five-year course in doctor of pharmacy, doctor of physical therapy, BSc nursing generic, BSc biotechnology, BSc medical imaging technology, BSc medical laboratory technology, BSc optometry and orthoptics as well as a range of other degrees, some in the rapidly expanding field of medical imaging and technology. This means that applicants with lower grades made it instead to these courses, which play a key role in the health sector with their significance in the fields of pharmacy, radiology, rehabilitation, medical diagnoses and so on.



The situation that has emerged clearly shows the flaws in our system. Thousands of academically gifted young people have been possibly deprived of a career they could excel at, through no fault of their own. This also means a loss to the nation as a whole, reflecting the degree of incompetence that exists and the suffering imposed as a result of it to so many capable students.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.