LAHORE: Anomalies have been noticed in the MDCAT results of students that appeared for the test in Punjab. Discrepancies between those students that appeared in the MDCAT conducted by University Sciences Lahore (UHS) and SZABMU (Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University) have vastly affected the students.
The now-dissolved PMC, had, instead of conducting one uniform MDCAT exam, that would contain a unique set of questions and method of checking that would be common to all students siting for the test, across Pakistan, decided to delegate its authority to the universities, allowing them to conduct their own MDCAT.
As a result of this violation of Section 18 of the PMC Act 2020 and Regulation 6 of the PMC Examination Regulations 2021, there have been major irregularities in the test results.
Out of a total number of 83,142 students that sat for the UHS MDCAT, merely 207 scored in the range 181-200 (0.25% of the total candidates) whereas, out of a total of18,839 students that appeared for the SZABMU MDCAT, a total of 1167 scored in the range 181-200 (6.2% of the total candidates). As a result of these stats, the situation shifted in the favor of Islamabad/ Rawalpindi, as the total successful candidates consisted mostly of those that sat the SZABMU MDCAT, even though, students that sat UHS MDCAT were five times more in number.
The number of seats allotted to successful candidates, therefore, was a misrepresentation of the different cities that were to be allotted seats equally.