PMC Notifies About Passing Percentage Of MDCAT For MBBS and BDS Admission In Sindh Medical Colleges

The Pakistan Medical Commission has notified about the passing percentage for MBBS and BDS admission in the public and private medical/dental colleges of Sindh. Earlier Minister Health & Population Welfare Department, Government of Sindh had requested the commission to lower the passing percentage of MDCAT 2021. It had been said that the MDCAT was designed by the third-party testing service and the test was based on the federal curriculum. The health minister of Sindh added that each province had its own board and its own curriculum due to which the students appearing from Sindh remained at a disadvantage. So in order to fill in the total seats of Public and Private Medical and Dental Universities Colleges of Sindh, the passing percentage of MDCAT should be decreased to 50% from 65%.

Statement Issued by PMC

In response to the demand of the Sindh government, the PMC has said that we all need to consider that private medical colleges are private businesses and they have to assess the market as against the services they deliver and determine at what value will their offered product be acceptable to those who want to take admission in MBBS and BDS. So lowering of merit is a demand singularly of these private colleges who are in effect asking the Commission to assist them in capturing paying students irrespective of merit and quality of students which itself places the quality of tomorrow's doctors at risk. 

National Medical Scholarship Fund

The commission has clarified that the high merit students who were unable to obtain admission to private colleges because of their low financial capacity can apply for the National Medical Scholarship Fund. The Fund is currently funded by the PMC and currently, the commission is assessing thousands of applications from students that want to get the scholarship including the candidates from Sindh. The main purpose is to provide financial support to the students who have secured high merit to obtain admission to medical and dental degree programs. The provincial and federal governments already do so through the public colleges to work for producing quality doctors across Pakistan. Moreover, the PMC has also made it mandatory for private colleges to provide scholarships equal to 5% of the fee received by them.

Decision of PMC

After considering the request of the Sindh government it has been decided that there does not exist any reason to consider lowering the passing marks of MDCAT from the current 65% which was recommended by the National Academic Board and approved by the Council earlier. The MDCAT was conducted according to the given syllabus and as per the international standards. The syllabus was based on a consideration of common topics appearing in the FSc syllabus of all the provincial and federal boards. However the admission process will be closely monitored by the PMC and in case there is are a large number of seats left vacant after the closing of admissions in January 2022, then the commission will propose an alternative.