Senate standing committee recommends reconducting MDCAT

ISLAMABAD   –   Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) on Tuesday recommended to re-conduct the MDCAT and sought a detailed report on the company conducting the MDCAT.

The committee raised questions on the MDCAT and inquired about the misconduct in the exam that has caused depression and mental stress among the students who studied day in and day out for the test.

“Simply saying that the students have the right to review and that it was some computer generated mistake is not fair with the students,” said Senator Rubina Khalid while showing resentment on the system of the PMC.

“It is not a game but the future of the children. What is the guarantee that the marks will be given in a fair manner now,” she added. It was informed that the test was conducted for 200,000 students.

The committee believed that the questionnaires should have been repeated over a span of 30 days and the questions must also have been leaked.

The committee also inquired about the name of the company which conducted the test. The officials informed that the test was conducted by Teps Company. The committee also asked questions as to why the test was outsourced and sought a report on its tender notice and short listing of companies.  

The committee passed recommendations that the test may be re-conducted without any additional charges. The committee also passed recommendations to put to task those who were responsible for this misconduct of the test.

Senator Prof. Dr. Mehr Taj Roghani also raised questions on the difficulties faced by the students studying out of the country especially in Central Asia and steps taken by the PMC to resolve their issues.

The chair raised questions on the change in university, within six months, by the PMC of those students who came through PMDC programme, somewhere in the middle of their studies tenure, which has ruined the future of these students.

The PMC officials informed the committee that total 63 universities are running in the Central Asian countries in category A, B and C including Kyrgyzstan having three universities in category A and eight universities in category C.

The committee was informed that recently they received several students studying in Kyrgyzstan and that several Kyrgyz medical colleges were running parallel MBBS programs, 6-year MD programs and 5-year MBBS programmes.

The 5-year MBBS programmes were tailored specially for Pakistani and Indian students. Their classes are held online and the teachers were hired from Pakistan.

Hospital training is the core element of MBBS training. Since the training in the local hospitals was reported to be deficient, PMC had grave concerns about the quality of graduates returning to Pakistan.

Hence further analysis and upgradation was halted temporarily in this regard. The committee was informed the Eurasian Medical University was taken off the PMC list since they received many complaints that the Pakistani students there wanted to get transferred to a better university and the university was not granting the Pakistani students their due transcripts.

The committee was informed by the PMC officials that they have received the explanation letter as well as the President PMC met with the Ambassador of Kyrgyz Republic on 22 September 2021. The PMC is currently waiting for the response from the Kyrgyz authorities regarding the matter.  

The committee made recommendations that the matter must be taken to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give relief to the students. 

The committee also recommended that this issued be resolved at government level as the future of the students is at stake.  

Article source: https://nation.com.pk/13-Oct-2021/senate-standing-committee-recommends-reconducting-mdcat