ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), in a recent meeting, has barred A-level students from applying for admissions to MBBS/BDS programmes at public and private medical and dental colleges of the country on foreign quota, a report in local media stated.
During the PMDC’s meeting, chaired by Federal Minister Saira Afzal Tarrar, it was declared that Pakistani A-level students cannot be admitted to any private medical college after the implementation of regulations of Oct 2016.
“No candidate shall be eligible for foreign quota seats in public and private medical and dental institutions under sub-regulation (1) and (2) unless he/she holds a permanent foreign nationality or dual nationality or overseas Pakistani students and who have physically studied and passed secondary certificate (SSC) and HSSC passing 12th grade examination or equivalent from outside Pakistan during his/her stay abroad and having a certificate from the institution last attended to this effect,” quoted by the officials.
She exclaimed that the former A-level students getting admitted in private medical and dental institutions in Pakistan were on the basis of 2013 PMDC Regulations. She said that Pakistani national students who have passed an examination equivalent to the intermediate level of Pakistan from a foreign university or examining body or foreign education system with three subjects out of which biology and chemistry are essential subjects shall be eligible to appear in the entry test for admission to MBBS/BDS.
Out of 41,677, A-level grads who applied in medical and dental institutions in 2013-14, 7.2 per cent (2,981) were placed under the category of non-FSc qualification.
The new PMDC regulations of rejecting the A-level students from the medical and dental fields has jeopardised the future of these students as the ratio dropped from 7.2 to 6.7 per cent.
This month, entry tests of MBBS/BDS will be conducted, but the embargo has worried the parents and students.