KARACHI: Sindh government has rejected the results of Medical Entry Test Results announced recently by the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC). The MDCAT entry test for admissions in medical colleges was conducted under Pakistan Medical Commission.
“The test was based on the curriculum of federal education board which is sheer injustice with the students of Sindh province,” Sindh cabinet members Dr. Azra Pechuho, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Saeed Ghani said addressing a joint press conference here at provincial assembly auditorium on Monday.
The provincial ministers demanded from the federal government that the authority of entry test should be given to the provincial governments.
Health Minister Dr. Azra Pechuho, Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Education Minister Saeed Ghani said that the federation has overstepped its authority on provincial matters. “Sindh government already had raised objections on the formation of Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), and now our stance has been proved correct due to poor arrangement of MDCAT,” they said.
Dr. Azra Pechuho added that the PMC was formed without taking the provinces into confidence and its bill was passed in the joint sitting of the Parliament by bulldozing the opposition parties. “I had sent several letters to federal government expressing apprehension of Sindh province on the PMC whereas various universities had also filed petitions challenging the formation PMC in the courts,” she said and added that matter is still pending with the courts.
Dr. Azra Pechuho said that it was the responsibility of the provinces to conduct entry tests for admission in medical colleges, but the federation violated the rights of the provinces. She said that the mandate of Pakistan Medical Commission was to regulate and maintain the quality of health sector in the country and not to interfere in administrative affairs of provincial health departments.
Health Minister was of the view that MDCAT was conducted with inappropriate arrangements. “No answer key was uploaded; merit list was uploaded and later was removed; the merit list was uploaded again but with full of errors” she maintained.
She said that the future of thousands of students of Sindh province has been placed at stake.
Dr. Azra Pechuho said that the Sindh government had in past conducted systematic medical entrance tests at the divisional level. In order to make the previous tests transparent, the candidates were also provided carbon copy and answer key after the test.
She said that there were massive irregularities in the test results announced by PMC as the names and results of the candidates were different. She said that 14 questions were given in unclear and ambiguous manner in the test. The provincial curriculum was also not taken into account, which made it difficult for the candidates of Sindh.
“Due to results of candidates hailing from rural areas, there will be many complications in health services in the coming days and Sindh, particularly the rural areas, will face the shortage of doctors.”
She said that the candidates and their parents have also challenged the result in the courts. She demanded that the provinces be given their constitutional authority under the 18th amendment so that the future of the youth could be secured by conducting medical entry tests at the provincial level.