LAHORE – 66,864 candidates including 45,121 females and 21,743 males appeared in the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) which was conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Sunday.
The test began at 10:00 AM and went smoothly for three and a half hours at 29 centers located in different cities like Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Multan, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, and D.G. Khan.
Candidates started arriving at their test centers as early as 7:00 AM. The University of Health Sciences (UHS) had enlisted the help of 4,270 school and college teachers to oversee the test, along with 225 superintendents and 355 deputy superintendents. Senior university faculty members were also involved as coordinators and supervisors.
To ensure the smooth conduct of the test, vice-chancellors, pro-vice-chancellors, principals, and senior faculty members of government medical institutions were appointed as regional coordinators. Additionally, officers from the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education department, deputy commissioners, and assistant commissioners in relevant districts oversaw the arrangements.
To maintain security, Section 144 was imposed to restrict unauthorized access to the examination centers. All the centers were sealed at 9:00 AM, and a significant number of police personnel were stationed to prevent any disturbances.
In case of emergencies, ambulances, medical teams, and fire brigades were on standby at the centers. Security measures included the use of CCTV cameras, mobile phone jammers, and walk-through gates. Candidates were also subject to physical searches at entry points. Special provisions were made for students with disabilities, parking, and waiting areas for candidates’ parents.
To ensure uninterrupted power supply, backup generators were provided at some centers. Biometric verification of candidates was carried out with the assistance of NADRA counters at all centers.
In Lahore, a total of 13,259 female and 5,755 male candidates took the test at various venues. Similar numbers of candidates appeared at centers in other cities, including Multan, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sahiwal, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujrat, and D.G. Khan.
Punjab Health Minister Professor Javed Akram and Secretary Health Ali Jan Khan visited different examination centers in Lahore and expressed satisfaction with the arrangements. The Health Minister praised UHS for its meticulous preparations and emphasized the importance of maintaining merit and transparency in the highly competitive MDCAT.
He mentioned that conducting MDCAT incurred more expenses than the fees collected from candidates, so the Punjab Cabinet approved an additional grant of Rs 1,000 per candidate for the university.
The UHS Vice-Chancellor stressed the significance of MDCAT in ensuring merit and justice in medical and dental college admissions. He highlighted the rigorous competition and the weightage MDCAT results carry in the admission process.
Later in the evening, just five hours after the test, UHS uploaded the answer key to the question paper on its website, allowing candidates to calculate their scores. The official results would be announced in a week, followed by the admission schedule.
In Punjab, there are 3,376 MBBS seats in 16 public sector medical colleges and 240 BDS seats in 3 public dental colleges. Additionally, there are approximately 4,500 MBBS and 800 BDS seats in 45 private sector medical and dental colleges in the province.
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