MDCAT exams postponed indefinitely due to floods

ISLAMABAD: Announcing the postponement of Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) indefinitely due to the devastating floods, Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel Wednesday said the newly-constituted Medical and Dental Council of Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has decided to keep the registration open for MDCAT exams for the next two weeks to facilitate students of the flood-hit areas.

The federal health minister further said the newly-constituted Medical and Dental Council of the PMC in its first meeting elected Dr Noshad Ahmed Sheikh, a former official of Sindh Health Department as its President, and Dr Khurshid Ahmed Nasim, a dental surgeon by profession, as its Vice President. He added that the new council of PMC has also slashed the pass percentage for admissions in the MBBS to 55 per cent and for BDS to 45 per cent.

“In view of the floods in the country, the PMC council comprising 9 members decided to postpone MDCAT indefinitely but registration for MDCAT will continue for the next two weeks. Hundreds of aspiring candidates could not register for the exams due to disconnected communication links following the floods,” Abdul Qadir Patel announced.

Accompanied by the new President of the PMC Dr Noshad Sheikh, Abdul Qadir Patel also hinted that MDCAT is expected to be taken at provincial levels by the medical universities but added that any decision in this regard would be taken by the PMC and its elected medical and Dental Council.

The medical and dental council of the PMC has also decided that National Licensing Exam (NLE) would not be taken from Pakistan medical and dental graduates, the federal health minister said, adding that only foreign qualified students would be asked to appear in the NLE exams to practise in the country.

He maintained that the previous management of the PMC had kept the minimum pass percentage for admissions in the MBBS at 65 per cent while 55 per cent was the minimum pass percentage for admissions in Bachelor of Dental Colleges (BDS) classes, due to which hundreds of seats in the medical and dental collegesof the country remained vacant and Pakistani students had to go abroad for medical education.

“As many as 16,000 Pakistani students are studying abroad due to illogical policies of the former PMC management and spending over Rs50 bn on education abroad as they could not get admissions locally and hundreds of seats remained vacant”, he claimed.

When asked if these decisions would result in lowering the standards of medical education in the country, Patel said it is better to give admissions to Pakistani students at local medical and dental colleges instead of compelling them to go abroad, spend valuable foreign exchange and acquire substandard medical education in other countries.

“Secondly, when Prof Adibul Hasan Rizvi did his MBBS, there was no MDCAT in place, Prof. Saeed Quraishy studied from the same medical college and practised without appearing in any NLE. The previous system was effective and produced highly qualified health experts like Prof. Adibul Hasan Rizvi, Prof. Rahim Bux Bhatti of Gambat and Prof. Saeed Quraishy who are legends in the field of healthcare in Pakistan and the world,” he added.

Earlier, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSR&C) notified the names of seven members of the medical and dental council of the PMC, whose appointment was approved by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the recommendations of a search and nomination committee as per Pakistan Medical Commission Act 2020. The newly-appointed PMC council members are Dr Noshad Ahmed Sheikh, Dr Khurshid Ahmed Nasim, Jawad Amin Khan, Ch Sultan Mansoor, M Shabbir Kasbati, Prof. Dr Naqibullah Achkzai, Dr Zubair Khan while Surgeon General of Pakistan armed forces and secretary of the National Health Services would be the ex-officio member.