Students protest outside SC Karachi Registry against 30-day MDCAT exam

KARACHI: A large number of students held a demonstration against the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) for stretching the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) for a period of 30 days outside the Supreme Court  Karachi Registry on Thursday (today).

The protesting students were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the online test. The students demanded Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed to take suo motu notice of the issue.

The protesters demanded the PMC and other concerned authorities to hold the MDCAT test on a single day across the country.

They were of the view that PMC was conducting the MDCAT exam on various dates across the country, adding that such a practice leads to papers leaking. They demanded the government to restore the previous procedure of the test.

The students further said that the PMC’s online system was inactive for the last two days, adding that the students of pre-medial were undergoing agony as they could not get their admission slips printed during the period.

They also demanded the PMC address their issues at the earliest.

LHC serves notice on PMC

On Monay, Justice Muzammil Akhtar Shabbir of the Lahore High Court (LHC) had issued a notice to the PMC and sought a reply on a writ petition seeking cancellation of ongoing MDCAT for not being held on the same day in violation of law.

A senior lawyer, Agha Intizar Ali Imran, had appeared on behalf of the petitioner-student Hadiya Khalid and contended that the petitioner appeared in MDCAT but had to face several complications, hurdles and illegalities during the test and could not secure the desired result despite being an exceptional student.

He had argued that under the mandatory provision of Section 18 (1) of the Pakistan Medical Commission Act, 2020(PMCA), MDCAT was to be held “on the same day” as “a single admissions test” in order to provide equal opportunity to all the candidates/ students. But the PMC is holding the same under the schedule from August 30 to September 30, which is a sheer violation of Article 4 of Constitution and the Section 18 (1) of the PMCA.

He had further argued that those students who had been asked to appear in the beginning of September-2021 will be able to find only the span of one month for the preparation of the said “Entry Test” whereas those will be lucky to have the chance to appear in the end of September-2021 will enjoy the length of almost two months for the preparation which is discrimination in contravention to Article 25 of the Constitution.