Sindh’s Minister of Health, Dr. Azra Pechuho, has declared that the MDCAT 2020 had numerous irregularities and has demanded that the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) let the provinces set their own tests instead of having the candidates retake the MDCAT. She added that this is the right of the provinces under the 18th Amendment.
“Taking the test is the job of the provinces, and the federal government is trampling on the rights of the provinces,” Dr. Pechuho said while addressing a press conference in Karachi.
She reiterated examples of when the provinces had autonomously conducted entry tests according to the PMDC in the absence of a single national curriculum. She said that the PMC had ignored the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) order and had proceeded with the test without developing a uniform national syllabus.
“There were 40 questions out of syllabus in the MDCAT,” the minister stated in contradiction to the PMC’s claim that 14 out of the 200 questions on the MDCAT had been ambiguous.
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Dr. Pechuho also identified poor surveillance and the absence of expert supervisors for cheating and the use of mobile phones by the candidates during the test as issues of concern.
Highlighting the irregularities in the test, she said that the names of certain candidates did not match their roll numbers in the results, and the PMC had given grace marks for 14 questions to the candidates but had not identified the questions.
The minister remarked that conducting a separate MDCAT on 13 December for students who had contracted the coronavirus had also led to irregularities in the compilation of the results.
“Students in rural areas got unsatisfactory results and this might lead to a shortage of doctors there. This would create more problems and affect health services in the future,” she said.
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The minister demanded that the government address the concerns of the candidates and their families who are protesting against the results of the test.
“We demand the MDCAT not be taken again, rather the provinces should be given the option to conduct their own tests,” she stated.
Previously, the Sindh High Court had barred the PMC from holding the entry test on 18 October, following which it was conducted on 25 November across the country.
