Sindh Cabinet Members Reject Medical Entry Test Results

KARACHI: Sindh cabinet members Dr Azra Pechoho, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, and Saeed Ghani have rejected the results of the MDCAT entry test for admissions in medical colleges conducted under the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and said that the test was based on the curriculum of the federal education board which is sheer injustice with the students of the Sindh province.

The provincial ministers have demanded the federal government that the entry test's authority should be given to the provincial governments.

Addressing a joint press conference at the Sindh Assembly Auditorium, Provincial Health Minister, Dr Azra Pechoho, Sindh Information Minister, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, and Education Minister, Saeed Ghani, said that the federation had overstepped its authority on provincial matters. They said that the Sindh government had raised objections on the formation of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), and now our position has been vindicated due to the poor arrangement of the MDCAT.

Sindh Health Minister, Dr Azra Pechuho, added that the PMC was formed without taking the provinces into confidence, and its bill was passed in the joint sitting of the Parliament by bulldozing the opposition parties.

Dr Azra Pechuho said that she had sent several letters to the federal government regarding the apprehension of the Sindh province on the PMC. Various universities had also filed petitions challenging the formation of the PMC in the courts and adding that the matter is still unresolved.

Provincial Health Minister, Dr Azra Pechoho, said that it was the provinces' responsibility to conduct the entrance tests for admission into medical colleges, adding that the federation was violating the rights of the provinces. She said that the Pakistan Medical Commission's mandate was to regulate and maintain the quality of the health sector in the country and not interfere in the administrative affairs of the provincial health departments.

The Provincial Health Minister was of the view that the MDCAT was taken under inappropriate arrangements. “No answer key was uploaded. The merit list was uploaded, and later it was removed. The merit list was uploaded a second time, but it was also full of errors,’ she said, adding that no answer key was uploaded.

Sindh Health Minister said that the future of thousands of students of the Sindh province had been placed at stake. Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechoho said that the Sindh government had conducted systematic medical entrance tests at the divisional level in the past. In order to make the previous test transparent, the candidates were also provided with a carbon copy and answer key after the test.

The Sindh Provincial Health Minister said that there were significant irregularities in the test results while the candidates' names and results were different. She said that 14 questions were given in an unclear and ambiguous manner in the test. The provincial curriculum was also not taken into account, which made it difficult for Sindh's candidates.

Due to the results of candidates in rural areas, there will be many health services complications in the coming days, and Sindh, especially rural areas, in particular, will face a shortage of doctors.

She said that the candidates and their parents have also challenged the result of the MDCAT in the courts. She demanded that the provinces be given their constitutional authority under the 18th amendment so that the future of the youth could be secured by conducting medical entry tests at the provincial level.

-MN Report