Medical college entrance test on Sept 16

LAHORE : The University of Health Sciences (UHS) will conduct the medical and dental colleges’ admission test (MDCAT) on September 16 in 13 different cities of the province.

Online registration of MDCAT through Bank of Punjab has been started from Friday and will continue till 31 August. UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Akram on Saturday said this while addressing a seminar here at Allama Iqbal Medical College.

The VC said that the Punjab government would bear 50 per cent expenses for each candidate who would appear in the test. Each candidate would be charged only Rs500 for the admission process.

He said the test would start at 10:00 AM simultaneously at Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan and Hasan Abdal.

Prof Dr Nadeem Afzal, UHS Immunology Head of Department, advised the candidates to reach the centres at least before 9:00 AM. All the centres’ gates would be closed at 09:15 AM and after that nobody would be allowed to enter the centre. He said the candidates would not be allowed to enter the centre without the admittance card and original photo identification (CNIC or domicile or passport).

Candidates securing at least 60 per cent marks in HSSC (Pre-Medical) or equivalent examinations and having domicile of any district of Punjab, Islamabad, and Gilgit-Baltistan would be eligible to appear in the admission test. Those awaiting results could also appear.

Prof Nadeem said there would be a single question paper consisting of 220 objective-type questions, divided into four sections: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and English. There would be negative marking in the test and for each wrong answer one mark would be deducted from the total score. Each correct answer would carry five marks and the total marks would be 1100. A UHS official said that this year the candidates would be allowed to take question paper with them after the test. However, the candidates must detach and hand over the first page of the question paper, containing their name and signatures, to the invigilation staff before they leave the centre. The answer keys will be uploaded on UHS’ website after the test. The answer keys would also be published in major national dailies the next day, he added.

Referring to the regulations of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC), Prof Nadeem said the merit of a candidate would be carried out by adding the marks of matriculation, intermediate and entrance test in the ratio of 10:40:50 per cent respectively.