Dr AQ Khan's petition against MDCAT submitted in IHC

Renowned nuclear scientist and national icon  Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan's petition against the  Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) — which is his last signed plea — has been submitted in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Geo News reported Monday.

The 85-year-old nuclear scientist, hours before his death, had told Dawn that he plans to file a petition in the court to challenge the "flawed entry tests for admission to medical and dental colleges".

“I am going to file a petition on Monday in Islamabad High Court to challenge a faulty MDCAT (medical students’ admission test) because it has destroyed the future of hundreds of thousands of students," he had told the publication.

The renowned nuclear scientist and national icon had passed away yesterday and was laid to rest in Islamabad, with his funeral prayers being led by Prof Dr Ahmed Al Ghazali at the Faisal Mosque.

The Pakistan Medical Commission’s (PMC) National Medical Authority (NMA) had last week announced the final result of the MDCAT 2021 after the conclusion of the post-exam analysis held on the completion of the test.

Addressing a press conference, PMC President Dr Arshad Taqi said that a record number of 194,133 students gave the MDCAT exam from August 30, 2021, to October 2, 2021.

While sharing details of the final result, he said that out of the 194,133 students, 68,680 students passed the exam resulting in a national pass percentage of 35.4%.

Meanwhile, former secretary of the Islamabad High Court Bar, Waqas Malik, said that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan had signed the power of attorney for the petition on Friday — two days before his death.

In the petition, it is mentioned that police baton charging on the protesting young doctors had tarnished Pakistan's global image. "It is not right to introduce a new examination method without giving due time to students [...] according to the constitution, the students should receive higher education on merit."

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) had last week staged a protest outside the Pakistan Medical Association (PMC) building against the National Licensing Exam (NLE) and MDCAT.

The protest was called off hours after the YDA held talks with the Islamabad deputy commissioner, where it was decided that doctors would hold demonstrations in their respective medical facilities.

Police had charged batons, fired tear gas shells on the protest, and also arrested some of the young doctors.