Punjab medical dental colleges entrance test

21,489 students to take Punjab medical entrance test
Lahore, Sep 28: AS many AS 21,489 candidates will appear in the entrance test for admissions for 4,029 MBBS/BDS seats in public and private medical/dental colleges of Punjab simultaneously at 13 centres in 12 cities of the province on Sunday (today).

The entrance test will start at 9 am and end at 11:30 am. The candidates are required to reach at their centres at 8 am as all the centres would be closed at 8:15 am.

Briefing the media regarding the arrangements for entrance test at a press conference here at the Senate Hall of the University of Health Sciences on Saturday, UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Hussain Mubashar Malik said that out of the total of 21,489 candidates, an overwhelming majority of 14,987 (69.75%) female candidates and 6,502 (30.25%) male candidates would appear in the test. The figure indicates the trend of female dominance in public as well as private medical/dental colleges. Last year, out of a total 18,263 candidates, as many as 12,282 female candidates and 5,981 male candidates appeared in the entrance test.

It may also be mentioned here that more than 17,000 students will not be able to join the medical/dental education after the entrance test. The medical professionals are of the view that low-merit FSc students, who were made eligible to take the entrance test, will not be able to get admissions to public or private colleges even if they scored 100 per cent in the test because only top-merit FSc students, who usually scored high in the test as well, have always been able to get admissions to medical/dental colleges.

It is useless to give hope to so many students only to dash it afterwards and presently the weightage given to FSc marks seems to be aiming to generate revenue through selling admission kits to over 21,000 candidates against just over 4,000 seats,î a student said.

According to medical professionals, more than 60 per cent seats are eventually grabbed by female candidates, which they said was plaguing the healthcare system in the province.

In view of the very low percentage of lady doctors who ultimately join the profession as a majority of them leave the profession after marriages, the UHS VC said the government was working to solve the problem and added that the government should file a review petition in the court to give advantage to male students over the females for admissions to medical/dental education. The court had earlier given its ruling to treat male and female candidates equally in the merit for admissions to medical/dental colleges.

Prof Hussain Mubashar Malik, who is also chairman of the Admission Board, said the students, 20,895 FSc candidates and 594 non-FSc candidates, would compete for 2,479 seats, including 2,263 MBBS and 216 BDS seats in 11 medical and three dental colleges in public sector in the province. Besides, there would be 1,150 MBBS seats in 12 medical colleges and 400 BDS seats in eight dental colleges in the private sector, he said, adding that the entrance test for FSc and non-FSc candidates would be from their respective syllabi and books.

He said there would be 220 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), including 70 questions of Biology, 60 of Physics, 60 of Chemistry and 30 questions of English. Each question would bear five marks, while one mark would be deducted for a wrong answer, he said and added that total marks would be 1100, while a minimum score of 40 per cent was mandatory for admission to all public and private medical/dental colleges. The weightage for admissions comprises 70 per cent of equivalent marks in FSc and 30 per cent entrance test marks.

The UHS VC said that in order to hold the entrance test, the province had been divided into three zones, i.e. Central, Southern and Northern zones. In the Central Zone, seven centres had been established including two in Lahore at the UHS and BISE Examination halls, he said, adding that the remaining centres were at the Agriculture University, Faisalabad, Govt Boys Degree College, Sahiwal, University of Gujrat, Punjab University, Gujranwala Campus, and University of Sargodha.

In Southern Zone, four entrance test centres had been established in the Sheikh Zayed Public School, Rahimyar Khan, BISE Centre, DG Khan, Islamia University, Bahawalpur, and Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, while in Northern Zone, two centres had been established at Siddique Public School, Rawalpindi, and Mashal Degree College, Wah Cantt, he maintained.

Dr Hussain Mubashar Malik said that the Information Technology secretary and Lahore Division Commissioner would visit the centres in Lahore, the Cooperative secretary in Rahimyar Khan, Special Secretary Health in Wah Cantt, while commissioners of Bahawalpur, Multan, DG Khan, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Rawalpindi would visit the centres in their respective centres.

It was also learnt that Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif would also visit four centres in four different districts, including two centres in Rawalpindi and Sahiwal, respectively.

Dr Hussain Mubashar said foolproof security arrangements had been made at all centres, whereas highly scientific and sophisticated methods had been adopted to maintain transparency in the examination paper and whole process of the test. He said eminent professionals of high integrity had been deputed as couriers of examination material, adding that 1,296 honest supervisory and invigilation staff had been appointed in addition to 20 per cent reserved staff in case of emergencies. He said examination process would discourage cheating at examination centres.

ìWe will not take any outside pressures regarding merit,î he said while adding that admissions to medical/dental colleges would be conducted strictly on merit. Besides, he said, private academies would not be able to dictate terms and play with the future of the deserving students. He dilated upon the process and procedures to make the entrance test student-friendly in order to facilitate students. The students had been provided complete admission kits at Rs 400 each, while there was no entrance test fee, he said.

The UHS VC said that Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif had enhanced 100 per cent goodwill quota for medical students of Balochistan in public medical/dental colleges in Punjab, therefore, seats had been increased from 10 to 20. Furthermore, he said, the UHS would display a single merit list of candidates on October 21, 2009, after test of Huffaz-e-Quran to be held from 12th to 15th October, adjustment of re-checking of FSc result and IBCC equivalence.

The submission of formal admission applications by the top 2,700 candidates would be from 22nd to 31st October, holding of medical board for the disabled from 3rd to 4th November, first selection list of MBBS and BDS to be displayed on 7th November and classes would start from 16th November 2009. He claimed that the UHS had ensured to complete the MBBS/BDS courses in four years and 10 months, which in several cases had earlier prolonged up to eight years.

Dr Hussain Mubashar said it would be mandatory for private medical/dental colleges to display merit lists after the display of merit lists by the public medical/dental colleges to save the candidates from double expenditures. He said cash awards of Rs 20,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 would be given to overall first, second and third position holders respectively in the test.

Besides, cash awards would also be given to the position holders of all three regions of Central Punjab, Southern Punjab and Northern Punjab. In each region, cash prize of Rs 10,000 each would be awarded to first position holder, Rs 8,000 to second position holder and Rs 6,000 to third position holder, he said. The news

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Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association take back strike call
Rawalpindi: The Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association has taken back its September 28 strike call after the Punjab Education Department withdrew a notification of increase in the duty timing of teachers and professors.

The Punjab Education Department had directed women lecturers and professors to remain at the educational institutions till 3:00 pm. Daily times

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Shining students presented guard of honour
Rawalpindi: The position-holder students of the Punjab province were presented a guard of honour at the Punjab House, Murree, on Saturday on the directive of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The programme was arranged as a part of efforts to promote harmony among the provinces. Rawalpindi District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah was chief guest of the ceremony. Punjab Director General Protocol Asjad Ghani Tahir, Punjab Education Deputy Secretary Shahid Iqbal and other senior officers were also present.

A contingent of the Punjab police presented guard of honour to the 30 students. The students appreciated the Punjab government for giving them such a ceremonious reception and providing them with an opportunity of study tours of different cities.

The DCO said special study tours to various cities of the Punjab and guard of honour would also be arranged for the shining students of other provinces.

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Section 144 imposed around entry test centres
Rawalpindi: City District Nazim Raja Javed Ikhlas on Saturday imposed Section 144 within 100 yards area around Saddiq Public School Satellite Town and Mashal Girls Degree College Taxila barring non-officials or non-students from entering the limits of centres for medical colleges entry test scheduled for today (Sunday). According to a notification, Section 144 has been imposed for one-day for the security of candidates and examination staff. Daily times

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Government College University contest
Lahore: The Debating Society of Government College University (GCU), Lahore, has won runner-up trophy at the All Pakistan Inter-Collegiate Bilingual Declamation Contest, 2009, hosted by the Pakistan Naval Academy, Karachi. According to a press statement issued on Saturday, 43 teams from across the country competed in this event. Ummar Ziauddin, former president of GCU Debating Society, was declared the second best English speaker of the tournament. The GCU team was awarded runner-up trophy on the basis of the collective performance of Adeel Anjum in the Urdu Humorous category and Ummar Ziauddin in the English Serious category.

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Mubarak Ali's new book launched
Lahore: The launching ceremony of renowned historian Dr Mubarak Ali's new book ëPakistan In Search Of Identityí was held at Alhamra Adbi Bethak here on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, Ayub Malik said he had been very close to Dr Mubarak Ali for the last fifteen years. He said he was a very realistic person and practiced whatever he said in theory.

He said this question of identity crisis in Pakistan had always been with them since the birth of the country and the practical application of the crisis could be seen as all the four provinces were alienating from each other.

Reading the book would really describe the political situation in the country, he added.

Salman Abid said the Pakistanis had been asking themselves what their identity was since its birth.

Zaman Khan said Dr Mubarak had hit multidimensional aspects of history and cultures in this book and the book was worth reading.

Haris Khalil said Dr Mubarak was like the conscience of a nation who made it think.

He said the book was very important as far as the history and culture of the country was concerned. Dr Robina Saigol also described the racial discrimination which existed in the Indian Sub-Continent, saying the offshoots of this discrimination could still be seen in the country. The news

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