The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) raised passing scores for MBBS and BDS from 50% to 70% and attendance from 75% to 90%, despite the fact that medical education quality has been declining nationwide.

The minimum attendance requirement for medical and dentistry schools has been increased to 90 percent from 75 percent, per a notification made accessible by Dawn, in order to guarantee sufficient exposure to the curriculum and hands-on training. In the yearly MBBS/BDS test, the passing percentage went from 50% to 70%. In a similar vein, the council announced that biology and chemistry were required courses for foreign applicants to be admitted.

"For admission to MBBS/BDS programs on designated seats, foreign candidates with a Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) or A-Level qualification from within or outside of Pakistan, along with an equivalency certificate from the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), with Chemistry and Biology as required subjects and Physics or Mathematics as elective subjects, are eligible," the statement read.

"No candidate shall be eligible for foreign quota seats in the public and private medical and dental institutions unless he or she holds a permanent foreign nationality or is an overseas (being a Pakistani citizen permanently resident in a foreign country) Pakistani, holder of a Green Card, Iqama, or Maple Leaf card, and who has studied and passed the HSSC 12th grade examination or equivalent from outside Pakistan and is a resident of a foreign country at the time of applying for admission and possesses a certificate from the institution last attended to this effect." 

It said in its explanation of the self-finance and foreign quota seats. Tens of thousands of students attend the roughly 190 medical and dentistry schools located around the country.

Grace marks not given

According to a PMDC report that Dawn has access to, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) did not award any candidates with grace marks on the most recent Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT).

It is important to note that certain students and their parents have complained to the Peshawar and Islamabad High Courts over the purported granting of grace marks to some applicants.

On January 27, all members of the nine-member panel, which was chaired by PMDC Member Legal Barrister Ch Sultan Mansoor, attended a meeting held at the PMDC headquarters. The committee was invited to hear testimony from petitioners, SZABMU representatives, and their attorneys.

According to the SZABMU representative, post-hoc analyses revealed that 14 out of 200 questions had incorrect keys and were above the difficulty index. It was decided that these questions would not be included in the final merit calculations, and the MDCAT result would be determined without the 14 questions. The representative also reiterated that no student received grace marks.

Following a thorough hearing with the petitioners, their attorneys, and other harmed parties, the committee concluded that the claims made by the petitioners were unfounded and without substance.

According to the statement, the university completed the MDCAT in a fair and open manner. It is regrettable that the classes are postponed this year due to such lawsuits, according to a senior health ministry official who asked not to be named.

Classes used to begin around October when I was pursuing my MBBS in the early 1990s, but in recent years, it has become commonplace for admissions to be completed in February. He claimed that as a result, the course cannot be finished, which lowers the standard of instruction.