Aspiring doctors: Over 4,000 students apply for 100 seats at SMBBMC

This will be the fifth batch at the medical college in Lyari .

KARACHI:

More than 4,000 students sat the entrance exam for the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College (SMBBMC), Lyari, on Monday. Hearts pounding, nerves frayed, many of them appeared frazzled. After all they were competing for a total of 100 admission seats.

The entrance test for the fifth batch of students at the medical college that opened its doors in March 2011 was conducted by the National Testing Service (NTS) simultaneously at the NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, Public Health School in Sukkur and Public School in Hyderabad.

Syed Khurram Mehdi, in charge of NTS operations in South region, told The Express Tribune that 4,311 students had registered and 4,014 of them had taken the test at the three designated centres.

SMBBMC principal Prof Dr Anjum Rehman said it was surprising and gratifying that so many students had shown interest in studying at the SMBBMC. The number of students who applied was only slightly less than the number of students who sat the Dow University of Health Sciences and Jinnah Sindh Medical University tests combined, she said. "We have come a long way since four years ago when the college held its first entrance test with only 1,200 applications," she said.

We have tried to set high standards for the four batches enrolled since the medical college opened, said Prof Dr Rehman. "We hope to transfer the dedication and enthusiasm that our faculty and students share to our batch of incoming students."

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2014.