More than 50k students appeared for MCAT  

Candidates and parents expressed their satisfaction with the arrangements made by UHS

 As many as 52,272 candidates (36,542 female and 19,730 male) appeared in medical and dental colleges’ entrance test for Punjab which was conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore, simultaneously in 13 cities of the province, amid tight security, on Sunday.

Last year, 46,559 candidates appeared in the test.  The test, started at 0900 hrs, went ahead peacefully at 27 centres set up in Lahore, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Multan, DG Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Hasan Abdal. Candidates started reaching their centres as early as 6am in the morning. More than 5,000 invigilators and supervisory staff performed their duties at these centres.

A large number of police personnel were deployed at the centres to prevent any disruption of the examination. Ambulances and fire brigades were also made available at the centres to counter any untoward incident. Furthermore, CCTV cameras, mobile phone jammers and walk-through gates were installed at all the centres. There were proper arrangements for the disabled students, parking and waiting area facilities for the parents of the candidates. Back-up power generators were also provided at some of the centres.

The candidates and their parents expressed their satisfaction on the arrangements made by UHS and the provincial government. Parents were seen reciting Holy Quran for the success of their children. No untoward incident was reported during the course of the test.

In Lahore, Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan, LG&CD Secretary Aslam Kamboh, MPDD Secretary Nadeem Irshad Kiyani, Higher Education Secretary Capt (R) Nasim Nawaz, Women Development Secretary Bushra Aman, Punjab Examination Commission CEO Nasir Iqbal Malik, Literacy Secretary Dr Naveed Ahmad Chaudhry, Industries DG Khalid Saleem, PHSRP PD Muhammad Khan Ranjha, District Coordination Officer Capt (R) Muhammad Usman and other senior officials monitored the arrangements for a total of 11,155 female and 5,635 male candidates who appeared in the test at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) examination halls at Lawrence Road, Punjab University examination halls at Wahdat Road, Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Government Central Model School Lower Mall, Govt Postgraduate College for Women Samanabad, University of Education, Township, and Lahore College for Women University, Jail Road.

UHS Vice Chancellor Maj Gen (R) Prof Muhammad Aslam and Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Secretary Najam Ahmad Shah visited various centres and monitored the arrangements.

In Rawalpindi, 7,204 candidates appeared in the test. The number of candidates in Multan was 8,097, Faisalabad 5742, Gujranwala 3188, Bahawalpur 2649, Sargodha 2246, Sahiwal 2911, Gujrat 1546, DG Khan 1948, Rahim Yar Khan 1813, Hasan Abdal 410, and in Sialkot 1728 candidates appeared in the test.

Talking to media on this occasion, UHS Vice Chancellor Maj Gen (R) Prof Muhammad Aslam said that medicine and dentistry attract the most brilliant students every year and these students demand a system that is duly probing, robust and fair.

“UHS has tried to make the process structured and transparent, which is regularly reviewed to ensure that only suitable and capable candidates are admitted,” he said, adding that UHS believed that all candidates should have an equal opportunity to show their suitability for the MBBS and BDS programmes. He said that there were around 10,000 more candidates appearing in the entrance test as compared to last year. This showed that the interest of candidates was increasing in medicine and dentistry, he added.

Prof Aslam further said that entry to the medical and dental profession is based on the principles of merit, justice, equity and transparency.

Meanwhile, the UHS uploaded the answer keys to the question papers of different colour codes on its website www.uhs.edu.pk. With the help of these keys, candidates can calculate their scores themselves. The official result will be announced within 10 days.

In the next stage, those candidates who will score 82 per cent or above aggregate marks in accordance with the formula of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council will be eligible to apply on an open merit basis and will opt for the colleges of their choice by submitting admission forms from October 03 to October 15. These forms will be available free of cost from UHS, Lahore, Nishter Medical College, Multan, and Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi, during the said dates.

The first selection list for medical/dental colleges will be displayed on October 28. There are 3,405 MBBS seats in 17 public sector medical colleges and 216 BDS seats in three public dental colleges of Punjab. Similarly, there are around 3,500 MBBS and 800 BDS seats in 27 private sector medical colleges and 12 dental colleges of the province respectively.