The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has finalised necessary arrangements for medical and dental colleges' entrance test in which more than 35,000 candidates are expected to appear this year.
Giving details at a media briefing here at UHS on Friday, the vice-chancellor, University of Health Sciences (UHS), Professor Dr Malik Hussain Mubbashar said that entrance test application forms would be made available from Saturday (today) at UHS, King Edward Medical University Lahore, Allama Iqbal Medical College Lahore, Fatima Jinnah Medical College Lahore, Services Institute of Medical Sciences Lahore, de'Montmorency College of Dentistry Lahore, Rawalpindi Medical College Rawalpindi, Punjab Medical College Faisalabad, Nishtar Medical College Multan, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur, and Shaikh Zayed Medical College Bahawalpur.
The forms would be available free of cost and the last date for submission of applications has been fixed as September 07. As per summary approved by the Chief Minister Punjab, the entrance test would be held in 12 major cities of the province on September 13, he said, adding: "A total of 22 centres were being established for this purpose, 3 in Lahore, 4 in Rawalpindi, 3 in Bahawalpur, 3 in Gujranwala, 2 in Faisalabad and once each in Sahiwal, Multan, Gujrat, Sargodha, D.G. Khan, Rahim Yar Khan and Hassan Abdal.
In Lahore, one centre would be established, exclusively for female candidates, at the Examination Halls of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Lawrence Road. University of Engineering and Technology Lahore would be the centre for boys and one centre would be established at UHS, he said. According to him, entrance test had gained extraordinary importance this year with respect to the regulations of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, which fixed 50-per cent to the entrance test marks for the purpose of admission into all public and private medical/dental colleges.
Professor Mubbashar claimed that special measures would be taken to make this test transparent and error-free. He termed it an exercise of 'distributive justice' on which the fate of candidates would be decided. He maintained that the entrance test paper would be prepared from a common syllabus prepared by UHS on the directions of Punjab government. He said that the syllabus was based on common core knowledge, taken from both FSc and Non-FSc syllabi and textbooks. "There shall be a single paper and all questions will be set in a way that no question would be out of course and textbooks of both FSc and Non-FSc schemes of education", he claimed.
He further said that mobile jammers and walk-through gates would be installed at each centres with heavy deployment of police personnel. Police squad would be provided to escort couriers and examination material. He added that Inspector General Police Punjab had issued special directions to traffic police, Special Branch and IB to make proper arrangements of security, traffic control and parking on September 13.
UHS VC said that emergency healthcare services would be ensured at all centres, which included fully equipped ambulances, doctors along with paramedical staff and emergency medicines. Moreover, the nearest teaching hospital or district headquarters hospital would be on high alert to ensure a state of readiness to meet any emergency, he added.
Professor Mubbashar said that government had appointed divisional commissioners as Regional Co-ordination Officers to facilitate the arrangements of the test. He further explained that candidates aspiring to appear from Lahore, Sahiwal Gujrat, Gujranwala and Sargodha must submit their applications at UHS; those from Multan and D.G. Khan at Nishtar Medical College Multan; those from Rawalpindi and Hassan Abdal at Rawalpindi Medical College Rawalpindi; and those aspiring to appear from Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Faisalabad must submit their applications at Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur, Shaikh Zayed Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan and Punjab Medical College Faisalabad, respectively.
He said that process of receiving and submitting the applications for entrance test would be a "One-Window Operation". On successful submission of application, the candidate would be issued the admittance cards on the spot. One copy of the card, however, would be retained by UHS staff to avert any impersonation during the test.
Answering a question regarding paper leakage, Professor Mubbashar said that UHS is well known for its strict and transparent examination system and there had not been a single complaint of paper leakage during its 09 years history. He said that UHS ensured bare minimum human involvement in all crucial stages of paper setting, paper printing, binding and packaging.
He added that senior professors of highest integrity were appointed as couriers to take the examination material to the centers and bring it back to university. "Some of them even don't mind sleeping, during their overnight stay, on the trunks in which the examination material in sealed", he said. On this occasion, UHS Controller of Examination Dr Junaid S. Khan informed that over 2000 invigilators had been appointed for the entrance test after their clearance from Special Branch and Intelligence Bureau.
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