Over 47,000 to take medical colleges entrance test

LAHORE
More than 47,000 candidates (31,000 female and 16,000 male) will appear in Punjab Medical/Dental Colleges’ Entrance Test this year to be conducted by University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Sunday (Aug 30).
The Punjab government has finalised the arrangements for the test and has deputed senior bureaucrats, including provincial secretaries, divisional commissioners and BoR members as monitoring officers whereas senior medical professors will conduct the test. District Coordination Officers (DCOs) of respective districts will act as ‘focal persons’ to look after the arrangements of the test. The test shall be held simultaneously at 34 centres established in 13 cities of Punjab including Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Sargodha, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot, DG Khan, and Hasan Abdal.
The test shall start at 09:00am. The candidates, however, must reach their respective centres at least one hour before the commencement of the test as all the centres would be sealed at 08:15am and nobody would be allowed to enter after that.
In Lahore, there are six centres established at the Examination Halls of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Lawrence Road; Examination Halls of Punjab University, Wahdat Road; Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Wahdat Road; University of Education, Township; Lahore College for Women University, Jail Road and Government Central Model School, Lower Mall where around 14,500 candidates will sit in the test. The test shall comprise 220 multiple choice questions (MCQs), divided into four sections namely Physics (44 MCQs), Chemistry (58 MCQs), English (30 MCQs) and Biology (88 MCQs).
Total duration of the test shall be two and a half hour. After the test, the candidates shall be required to write a separate test comprising questions related to aptitude and feedback. Extra 30 minutes will be given to the candidates to write this test which shall have no weightage in the entrance test score. Total marks of the test shall be 1100. There shall be negative marking in the test like previous years and while 05 marks will be awarded for each correct answer, one mark will be deducted for each incorrect answer. Briefing on the arrangement of the test, UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Gen (R) Prof Muhammad Aslam said that the Punjab government had made immaculate arrangements for smooth and flawless conduct of the entrance test. The district administration, under the supervision of divisional commissioners and district coordination officers concerned, had finalised the security and logistic plans at their respective centres, Prof Aslam said. He said that district police officers would be responsible for security and deployment of police personnel at the test centres. Police would ensure extensive patrolling and technical sweeping of the area before the commencement of the test. Walk-through gates and mobile jammers would be installed at each centre. Restrictions would be imposed under Section 144 on the entry of unauthorised persons on the premises of examination centres, UHS VC said.
He further said that parents and other attendants of the candidates would be provided comfortable waiting areas near examination centres. Traffic police had been directed to make proper traffic and parking arrangements to ensure smooth flow of traffic near the examination centres, he said. Emergency healthcare services will be ensured at all centres which would include fully equipped ambulances, doctors along with paramedical staff and emergency medicines. Moreover, the nearest teaching hospital or district headquarters hospital would be on high alert to ensure a state of readiness to meet any emergency. Arrangements have also been made with power supply companies to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply at all the centres during the test. UHS has already issued roll numbers and instructions to the candidates. Candidates are not allowed to bring any cell phones, calculators, laptops or notes to the examination centre. No candidate will be allowed to enter the centre without the admittance card issued by UHS. According to the regulations of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, it is mandatory for a candidate to appear in the provincial entrance test for admission to any public or private medical / dental college of the province. So the candidates seeking admission to private medical colleges will also have to appear in the entrance test of UHS. This year, the candidates shall compete for 3,405 MBBS seats in 17 public sector medical colleges and 216 BDS seats in 03 public dental colleges of the province. Besides, there are around 3,000 MBBS seats available in 28 private medical colleges and 700 BDS seats in 12 private dental colleges of the Punjab.