MDCAT relief for students prior to inter level exams

Islamabad : With the next National Medical and Dental College Admission Test being held from August 30 to September 30, all students taking A Level exams in October can sit the MDCAT in September and apply for admission to medical colleges before their exams are held.

This was decided during a meeting jointly chaired by federal education minister Shafqat Mahmood and special assistant to the prime minister on health Dr. Faisal Sultan here on Thursday.

The relevant officials also attended the meeting, which discussed the upcoming admissions of FSc (pre-medical) and A2 Cambridge students to public and private medical universities.

The participants examined the disruption caused in academic year and exams due to COVID-19 pandemic and considered various options to save the academic year of A2 and FSc pre-medical students and their timely admission to public and private medical universities across the country.

The Pakistan Medical Commission vice-president said as per the PMC Undergraduate Education (Admissions, Curriculum and Conduct) Regulations 2021, all students who wished to seek admission in medical and dental colleges could take the MDCAT examination even if they had not yet taken their FSc pre-medical or A Level exams.

He said the admissions to medical and dental colleges had to be finalised by Jan 15, 2022, as per PMC Regulations. The meeting decided that to accommodate students taking their A level exams in October and expected results in January 2022, each medical and dental colleges and universities will be directed to not finalize the admission on seats equal to the applicants who have taken their A levels in October and are awaiting their results and the admission on these seats will be finalized after the results are available in January 2022.

For the purpose, the PMC will permit colleges to finalize admission on these special category seats by February 10, 2022. The PMC vice-president also requested the education minister and SAPM on health to consider the issue of using only elective subject results this year for merit creation in public colleges in view of the FSc exams being held for elective subjects only.

He said the PMC was already considering a policy along those lines for private colleges. The minister and SAPM said the government was focused on the resolution of the educational issues caused the pandemic and would provide students with fair opportunities to pursue careers of choice.

They said the education ministry would closely coordinate with the provincial governments for the smooth implementation of the agreed policy.