Complaints about MDCAT: Ministry, PMC directed to resolve students’ problems within one week

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Wednesday, taking serious notice of the complaints submitted by the students of medical colleges against Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) regarding Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT), has directed the Ministry of National Health Services and the PMC to resolve the problems being faced by the students within a week.

The directives were passed by the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination which held a meeting under the chairmanship of Dr Mohammad Ashraf Dhandla.

The committee members jointly asked the PMC officials to communicate the concerns expressed by the parliamentary panel to the relevant health educational institutes, saying the committee members have received various complains directly and indirectly from the parents as well as from the students studying in medical educational institutions. The panel directed the ministry and the PMC to direct medical educational institutes to resolve the issues of students within a week by adopting a comprehensive policy.

The panel directed the PMC to hold a meeting with the Vice Chancellors of the University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore and Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZAMBU), Islamabad in this regard.

The committee recommended the Vice President of PMC, Dr Khursheed Ahmad Nasim to look into the matter as students and their parents have complaints regarding the MDCAT exam and ensure to resolve the issue as early as possible. He directed that no students should be victimised, and asked to reconsider the students’ issues first. He added that students should be facilitated on priority basis.

PML-N MNA Dr Zehra Wadood Fatemi said that as per the complaints received from the students and parents mostly multiple-choice questions (MCQS) were out of the syllabus in the MDCAT test held this year as a result thousands of student failed in the exams.

While responding to the queries, PMC Vice President Dr Nasim informed the committee that not a single question was taken out of syllabus in the MDCAT test and assured that all questions used by the UHS were from the question bank of PMC.

He said that a meeting was being arranged to address the students and parents concerns and later a report would be presented to the committee within a week.

Committee member Aliya Kamran said there were many vacant seats in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) despite burden of the patients on the hospital. On which, the chairperson of the committee Dr Muhammad Afzal Dhandla directed the Ministry of Health to fill the vacant posts on contract basis in the PIMS with immediate effect.

She added that there were complaints of the absence of senior doctors and professors in the PIMS during duty hours as a result poor patients arrived from even Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan are facing serious hardships. She asked the Ministry of Health officials especially Director General Health to take serious notice of the situation as majority of senior doctors not attending the hospitals are giving top preference to their private practice.

The panel was further informed by the officials that in order to facilitate the students PMC in collaboration with health education universities/colleges on the directions of Federal Minister on National Health Services is also making arrangements to arrange MDCAT exams in jails from next year.

The jail staff and authorities concerned will facilitate the universities by making appropriate arrangements for the students jailed in any crime. “The candidates who will appear in the MDCAT could be provided an opportunity to continue his/her studies”.

“Providing inmates with education opportunities will also serve to reinforce the notion that prisoners have intended for character reform and not punishment aside from providing proper time usage,” the PMC officials said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022