KARACHI: Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Sindh Health Minister, has recently rejected the newly held Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) results.
While talking to the reporters in Sindh Assembly, she said that the province had left with no option but to hold its tests or reduce the percentage for admission to medical and dental colleges. Saeed Ghani, Sindh Information and Labour Minister, and Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Local Government Minister, accompanied her during the session.
Under the 18th Amendment, she said, provinces had the right to legislate on medical admission tests and other matters.
The minister said that irregularities had defaced the MDCAT, and they had received a lot of complaints. The paper included a lot of questions from the federal board. Keeping in mind the syllabus in Sindh was a bit different from Punjab's, Sindh's students were purposely ignored.
She informed that the Sindh government had already shared its reservations to the federal government over the PMC repetitively but got no positive response. The commission was formed without informing the provinces. Its proposal was passed in a joint sitting of the parliament by bulldozing the opposition parties. Moreover, the students across the country were still protesting against the poorly organised exams.
She said that we had been left with either of the options, i.e., take our medical tests or decrease the percentage for seats in Sindh. If we gave admission to students from other provinces, we would deprive Sindh's students of medical education. Students would return to their provinces after taking education that would exacerbate doctors' shortage in Sindh.
Keeping in mind the disruption of the academic session due to the pandemic, the minister criticised 65 per cent as the passing marks.
