F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: 11th meeting of the Medical & Dental Council held today at the Pakistan Medical Commission Headquarters.
The meeting was chaired by the President PMC, Dr. Arshad Taqi. During the meeting, the Council approved that the registration for MDCAT will be opened from 25 th May 2022 and the exam will be held from 7 th September to 30 th September in 20 cities across Pakistan.
The Council has also approved the policy for adding provincial MDCAT Committees to be constituted in each province and territory by the relevant federal and provincial governments, consisting of three members nominated by the provincial government, of which two shall be from public sector medical universities and one from a private medical university.
The MDCAT Committees shall review the curriculum and recommend to the National Medical and Dental Academic Board any changes in the curriculum or propose questions bank to be included in the MDCAT exam. The purpose is to involve all stakeholders to ensure transparency and ownership.
Member IT gave a detailed briefing to the Council about MDCAT & NLE exams, which are completely designed and executed through PMC owned system developed for the purpose.
Based on two recent conferences held with dental colleges of Pakistan, the colleges have submitted their recommendations related to lowering MDCAT pass percentage for admission in dental program to the National Academic Board for consideration.
The Board has directed the National Medical Authority to collect data of average MDCAT score from the provinces as well as from Jinnah Sindh Medical University.
The Board considered lowering the MDCAT pass marks for BDS program to 60% subject to the analysis asked from the provinces. The Medical and Dental Council has directed to collect data from JSMU and submit it to the Board on urgent basis.
Moreover, the Council has suggested to the Board to consider fixing the MDCAT pass percentage for BDS program at 55%.
The Council has withdrawn the interim policy on sharing of facilities between dental and medical colleges with publication of the “2022 Dental College Accreditation Standards” as formulated by the Board and approved by the Council. The interim Policy having become redundant stands withdrawn with immediate effect.
Many Colleges approached the Authority proposing to schedule fixed dates for admissions in medical and dental colleges. The Council has considered the proposal sent by Dr. Razi, President PAMI (Sindh Chapter) suggesting admission dates.
Council has approved necessary amendments to the Medical and Dental Undergraduate Education (Admissions, Curriculum and Conduct) Regulations 2021 to allow for final date of admission. All schedules of admissions would be on a fundamental principle that public admissions shall be before private admissions and medical admissions shall always be before BDS admissions. Based on this, the Council has constituted a National Scheduling Committee. The Committee shall submit the final schedule of admissions to the Authority and the same shall be notified by the Authority.
During the meeting, the Council considered the request submitted by private medical and Sindh public colleges for filling the current vacant seats in dental colleges. The Council has directed the authority to provide the detailed paper with analysis in the coming week and will also be discussing the matter with relevant provincial authorities prior to giving final decision on this particular issue.
During the meeting, upon the recommendation of the Disciplinary Committee, the Council approved the closure of Muhammad Medical College Peshawar upon repeated cases of illegal admissions and demanding donations from the students, The Council directed the Authority to make the placement plan within one week for placing the students in other colleges. The college was caught red-handedly by the Authority for demanding donations for admissions.
Later during the meeting, the Authority informed the Council about the recent protest by foreign medical graduates, which resulted in the entire Authority being held hostage for over 5 hours, and also the unfortunate incident of a medical emergency of an employee.
The Council severely condemns such behaviors & noted that on dozens of occasions in the past, Members of the Authority and the Council were available and met with the representatives of foreign medical graduates to address their concerns. Many of their concerns have already been addressed, and therefore this method of harassing and threatening an institution into accepting demands is simply unacceptable.
If any person is not satisfied with the decision, then they have legal remedies available, however placing at risk the well-being of people and the public facility is uncalled.
The Council hopes that strict action shall be taken against the perpetrators as this conduct needs to be stopped & protests should be undertaken in a civilized manner without violating the law.
