Islamabad: The Pakistan Medical Commission Council meeting was held at PMC Office on September, 28. The council discussed several matters related to different issues.
The meeting was attended by the following members presided by the President PMC Dr Noushad Ahmad Shaikh, Dr Khurshid Ahmad Nasim (V.P), Lt.General Nigar Johar, Dr Muhammad Fakhr-e-Alam, Mr Jawad Amin Khan, Barrister Ch. Sultan Mansoor, M. Shabbir Kasbati, Professor Dr Naqibullah Achakzai, Professor Dr Muhammad Zubair Khan.
Upcoming MDCAT exam
The schedule of the upcoming MDCAT test was decided by council members unanimously. In lieu of the decision, the MDCAT exam will be held on the 13th or 20th of November 2022. The exam will be conducted by PMC through the provincial public university in all the provinces, ICT on one day at the same time.
The centers for the MDCAT examination for Pakistani students will be established in the major universities in Pakistan including,
● Bolan University of Medical & Health Sciences (Baluchistan)
● University of Health Sciences Lahore (Punjab)
● Khyber Medical University Peshawar (KPK)
● Dow University of Health sciences Karachi (Sindh)
● Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad (ICT, AJK, Gilgit Baltistan).
The passing percentage for the MBBS and BDS students has also been revised declining further to 55% and 45% for MBBS and BDS candidates respectively.
The decision was taken in response to the huge financial loss Pakistan had to face since almost 20,000 students enrolled in foreign universities as of last year.
MDCAT exam
According to the reports the MDCAT Exam will be conducted by PMC through NUMS separately. The students who intend to get admission to NUMS-affiliated colleges will only be allowed to sit in the exam.
The MDCAT exam is planned to be conducted manually i.e paper-based. Meanwhile, the answer sheets will be uploaded to the exam-holding universities and the PMC website on the same day.
The registration date for the MDCAT exam has been extended for a further ten days. The students can also use the PMC portal for registration purposes.
MDCAT for foreign students
According to PMC the MDCAT exam for foreign students will be conducted in Saudi Arabia and UAE. Since the maximum number of students who travel to Pakistan for studies reside in these countries. A major time difference as well as the lack of adequate student numbers made it impossible to establish centres in other countries.
PMC will further update the details of these centres on its website. The foreign students who intend to appear in MDCAT can travel to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or UAE for the exam.
NLE decision
The Council deliberated on the NLE examination and unanimously decided to hold the NLE step 1 exam in the last week of October 2022 and NLE step 2 exam in the last week of November for foreign graduates.
The council also decided that the NLE examination for local Students shall be conducted through their degree awarding Universities under the umbrella of PMC.
The passing percentage for the NLE 1 & NLE 2 has been reduced from 70% to 50% but it will not be used as retrospective.
The council decided that the basic postgraduate degrees of the doctors shall be registered with the PMC. Meanwhile, foreign medical dental postgraduate qualifications shall be scrutinized and registered with PMC after due examination.
PMC president Professor Dr Noushad A. Shaikh apprised the council regarding the WFME accreditation progress. He prised that PMC has been accepted as eligible for WFME accreditation. According to him, a task force committee has been constituted to look after the WFME's further development of accreditation.
The council appraised the efforts made by the task force and advised that necessary steps shall be taken within a few months to secure the future of students and doctors. The council also decided that the inspections of medical dental colleges will be carried out by the PMC in due time.
Registration of working license
The council has decided to extend the renewal of the working license for doctors from 2 years to 5 years. Previously, both dentists and doctors have to get their licenses renewed every two years.
Meanwhile, PMC has also provided relief to doctors who are 60 years and above with a waiver of 50% on the registration fee.
The council will be updating the list of registered /approved medical and dental colleges on the PMC website soon.
Furthermore, PMC has decided to establish regional offices in Karachi, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit at its earliest to facilitate the general public and doctors.