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Tuesday March 19, 2024

65,670 candidates take medical, dental colleges admission test

By Our Correspondent
September 24, 2018

LAHORE: Around 65,670 candidates, including 41,681 female and 23,989 male, appeared in Medical and Dental Colleges’ Admission Test (MDCAT) which was conducted by University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Sunday.

The test, started at 1000 hrs, continued peacefully at 28 centres set up in Lahore, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Gujrat, Gujranwala Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahimyar Khan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Hassan Abdal. Candidates started reaching their centres as early as 6 o’clock in the morning. More than 5,500 invigilators and supervisory staff performed duties at these centres. All the centres were sealed at 09:15 am.

A large number of police personnel were deployed at the centres to prevent any disruption. Ambulances and fire brigades were also made available at the centres to counter any untoward incident. Besides, close circuit TV (CCTV) cameras, mobile phone jammers and walk-through gates were installed at major centres. Body search of the candidates was also conducted.

There were proper arrangements for disabled students, parking and waiting area facilities for the parents of the candidates. Back-up power generators were also provided at some of the centres.

In Lahore, a total of 12,068 female and 6,350 male candidates appeared in the test at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education examination halls at Lawrence Road, Punjab University examination halls situated at Wahdat Road, Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Wahdat Road, Divisional Public School, Model Town, Government Postgraduate College for Women Samanabad, University of Engineering & Technology, GT Road, and Lahore College for Women University, Jail Road. UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Javed Akram and Deputy Commissioner Lahore Anwar-ul-Haq visited various centres and monitored the arrangements.

In Rawalpindi, 7,874 candidates appeared in the test. The number of candidates in Multan was 10,148, Faisalabad 6,614, Gujranwala 3,623, Bahawalpur 3,356, Sargodha 2,803, Sahiwal 3,747, Gujrat 1,767, DG Khan 2,673, Rahimyar Khan 1,758, Hassan Abdal 824 and in Sialkot 2,065 candidates appeared in the test.

The question paper prepared by UHS this time was of four codes with question shuffled in each code. The candidates were allowed to bring clip boards with them. Talking to reporters at Punjab University, Wahdat Road centre, UHS VC, Prof Dr Javed Akram, said that the conduct of MDCAT was important as it would ensure merit and justice.

“We are aware of the hardship and agony these candidates and their parents have faced yet to ensure justice and fair play, transparence of MDCAT was crucial”, he said. He said that new standard operating procedures (SOPs) were developed and fresh multi-tiered security measures were taken for each and every step of preparation, printing, packaging and transportation of MDCAT paper.

He said that medical and dental colleges have always challenged the brightest and best-prepared minds. He added that admissions were consistently becoming more competitive. “MDCAT results are extremely important. They carry 50 percent weightage in merit as per the formula of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. They are proof that the candidate can handle the academic rigors of medical or dental college”, the VC opined.

Later in the evening, UHS uploaded the answer key to the question paper on its website www.uhs.edu.pk. With the help of this key, candidates can calculate their scores themselves. The official result will be declared in a week or so after which the admission schedule will be announced.

There are 3,405 MBBS seats in 17 public sector medical colleges and 216 BDS seats in three public dental colleges of the Punjab. Besides, there are around 2,640 MBBS and 500 BDS seats in 25 private sector medical colleges and 11 dental colleges all over the province.