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Friday March 29, 2024

Lowering of admission test score for BDS programme proposed

By Our Correspondent
May 16, 2022

Islamabad : The Medical and Dental Council has proposed to the National Medical and Dental Academic Board to examine the proposed 55 per cent pass percentage for the dental graduation programme (BDS) in the National Medical and Dental College Admission Test.

The proposal came under discussion during a meeting chaired by Pakistan Medical Commission president Dr Arshad Taqi here.

According to the PMC, the regulator for medical and dental education in the country, based on two recent conferences, the dental colleges recommended the lowering of the MDCAT pass percentage for admission to the dental programme to the academic board for consideration.

The board directed the National Medical Authority to collect data on the average MDCAT score from the provinces as well as from the Jinnah Sindh Medical University.

The board considered lowering the MDCAT pass marks for the BDS programme to 60 per cent subject to the analysis asked from the provinces.

The MDC ordered the collection of data from the JSMU and submit it to the board on an urgent basis.

It suggested the board consider fixing the MDCAT pass rate for the BDS programme at 55 per centage.

On the recommendation of the disciplinary committee, the MDC approved the closure of the Mohammad Medical College Peshawar upon repeated cases of illegal admissions and for seeking donations from students. The students will be placed in other colleges.

It also withdrew the interim policy on sharing of facilities between dental and medical colleges with the publication of the “2022 Dental College Accreditation Standards” as formulated by the board and approved by the council. The interim policy having become redundant stands withdrawn with an immediate effect.

The council approved the opening of the MDCAT registration on May 25 and the holding of the test from September 7 to September 30 in 20 cities of the country. It also okayed the policy on the provincial MDCAT committees to be constituted by the relevant federal and provincial governments, consisting of three members nominated by the provincial government, of which two shall be from public sector medical universities and one from a private medical university.

The committees will review the curriculum and recommend to the National Medical and Dental Academic Board any changes to the curriculum or propose a question bank to be included in the MDCAT exam to involve all stakeholders to ensure transparency and ownership.