The number of applicants this year is nearly three times last year’s 700, Dr Mustafa Raza Kazmi, the SZMDC registrar, told The Express Tribune.
Dr Kazmi said 1,400 candidates will take the test in Lahore – at Government Model Girls High School and Government Model Degree College at Model Town’s E-Block. Remaining will take the test in Islamabad, Quetta, Karachi and Multan.
Kazmi said that about 420 of these applicants had obtained 900 or more marks in their FSc exams. This, he said, meant that there would be tougher competition this year. He said that the cut-off mark for admission was expected to rise above last year’s 80 per cent.
He said that 85 seats will be filled on merit. The remaining were reserved for overseas Pakistanis and foreign students (10) and for children of federal government employees (5).
Entry Test:
The test will consist of 100 multiple choice questions (MCQs) – 30 related to chemistry, 30 to physics, 30 to biology and 10 to English. The test, prepared by the National Testing Service (NTS), is based 50 per cent on FSc syllabus and 50 per cent on Cambridge International Examination (CIE) syllabus. This, Kazmi said, was aimed at making it fair to the non-FSc students.
Overseas Applicants:
Kazmi said that about 50 foreign candidates, including overseas Pakistanis, have applied to the college. He said that the college does not require these candidates to sit for the entry test. Instead, he added, their admissions will be based upon Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT I & II) marks. He said that they must, however, obtain equivalence certificates from the Inter Board Chairman of Committee (IBCC).
SKZMDC profile
SKZMDC is among the six components of the Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex (SZMC). Dr Zafar Iqbal, the SKZMDC principal, said that the SZMC had three components when it was commissioned in 1989.
These included Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Federal Postgraduate Medical Institute and a National Health Research Complex.
He said that SKZMDC was established in 2009 while Shaikha Fatima Institute of Nursing and Health Sciences and a National Institute of Kidney Diseases were set up in 1994 and 2004, respectively.
Iqbal said that the college was approved by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and affiliated with the Punjab University. He said that the college was also recognised by the George Washington University in the USA, Royal College of Physicians in the UK and the WHO.
He said that the college had on-campus residence facilities for girls. A boys’ hostel, he said, would be constructed by next year.
The college was also constructing a block at the SKMC premises at a cost of Rs488 million and was setting up a campus at Fairpur Interchange of motorway, under Mohtarma Benazir Project, at a cost of Rs911 million. The new campus, when complete, will be used for first and second year classes.
In two years time, he said, the SKZMDC will start dentistry classes.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2010.
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