KARACHI:Sindh cabinet members Dr Azra Pechoho, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Saeed Ghani have rejected results of MDCAT entry test for admissions in medical colleges conducted under Pakistan Medical Commission(PMC) and said that test was based on the curriculum of federal education board which was sheer injustice with the students of Sindh province.
The provincial ministers have demanded from the federal government that the authority of entry test should be given to the provincial governments.
Addressing a joint press conference at Sindh Assembly Auditorium on Monday, 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 Sindh government already had raised objections on the formation of Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), and now our position had been vindicated due to poor arrangement of 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 federal government regarding apprehension of Sindh province on the PMC, whereas various universities had also filed petitions challenging the formation of PMC in the courts and added that matter is still pending with the courts.
Pechoho said that it was the responsibility of the provinces to conduct entrance tests for admission for medical colleges, adding that the federation was violating the rights of the provinces. She said that the mandate of Pakistan Medical Commission was to regulate and maintain the quality of health sector in the country and not interfere in administrative affairs of provincial health departments.
She was of view that MDCAT was taken in inappropriate arrangements. “No answer key was uploaded, merit list was uploaded and later it was removed, again 2nd time merit list was loaded, but it was also full of errors,’ she said and added that no answer key was uploaded.
Sindh health minister said that the future of thousands of students of Sindh province had been placed at stake. Pechoho said that the Sindh government had in past conducted systematic medical entrance tests at the divisional level. In order to make the previous test transparent, the candidates were also provided carbon copy and answer key after the test.
The provincial health minister said that there were significant irregularities in the test results while the names and results of the candidates were different. She said that 14 questions were given in unclear and ambiguous manner in the test. The provincial curriculum was also not taken into account, which made it difficult for the candidates of Sindh.
She said that the candidates and their parents had also challenged the result of 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.