More than 38000 students from Sindh will appear in MDCAT 2024

Karachi:  167,077 candidates will appear in MDCAT (Medical and Dental Colleges Test) 2024 to be held on September 22 across Pakistan. This includes more than 38 thousand students from Sindh. It is pertinent to mention here that Dow University of Health Sciences is conducting MDCAT for the third consecutive time in Sindh province.Recently, the Sindh Health Department and Dow University of Health Sciences announced that the admission test will be conducted simultaneously in six test centres across five cities of the province. These cities include Karachi, Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah), Larkana, Hyderabad (Jamshoro), and Sukkur.In Karachi, the MDCAT will be conducted at two test centres set at NED University and Dow University's Ojha Campus. In Jamshoro, it will be held at Liaquat University of Health Sciences, in Shaheed Benazirabad at Bilawal Sports Complex, in Sukkur at IBA Public School, and in Larkana at the Police Training School. According to the university, the duration of the MDCAT held on September 22 will be 3 and a half hours, which will be conducted from 10 am to 1.30 pm. Candidates have been instructed that the reporting time to the examination centres will be from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM, and the centres will be sealed at 9:30 am after which no one will be allowed to enter the examination centres.According to Dow University sources, approximately 38,700 candidates are participating in six centres across five cities in Sindh. In Karachi, 12,846 candidates will appear in MDCAT, with 6,846 at the test centre established at Dow University’s Ojha Campus and the remaining 6,000 at NED University. In Jamshoro, more than 12,000 candidates will appear, in Larkana 4,800, in Shaheed Benazirabad approximately 2,800, and in Sukkur around 5,500 candidates will take the MBBS and BDS admission test. On the day of the test, candidates are instructed to bring a color print of their admit card from the Dow University website, their CNIC/B-Form, and a domicile or PRC for photo identification. Furthermore, candidates are strictly instructed not to bring any electronic items such as mobile phones, calculators, watches, Bluetooth devices, or any books & notes. If any such items are found during the test, the candidate’s paper will be cancelled, and they will be expelled from the examination centre. It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has assigned the responsibility of this test to 6 universities across the country. In Punjab, the University of Health Sciences will conduct the MDCAT, in Sindh, Dow University of Health Sciences, in Balochistan; Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khyber Medical University, in Islamabad and Azad Kashmir Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, and in Gilgit-Baltistan, Karakoram International University will conduct MDCAT. It should be noted that Dow University of Health Sciences is the first medical university in Sindh, which has been entrusted for the third consecutive time with the responsibility of conducting the MDCAT and admissions for all private and public medical universities and colleges across Sindh. Previously, Dow University had conducted this test in 2022, and last year’s MDCAT was also reconducted by this university.A total of 167,077 candidates will appear in the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) for 17,615 MBBS and 3837 BDS seats across the country. The test will be conducted simultaneously on September 22 this year at 30 centres nationwide, as well as in Riyadh and Dubai. According to PMDC, 174,744 students submitted online applications for MDCAT, out of which 167,077 students will appear the admission test. Additionally, two centres will be established abroad in Dubai and Riyadh. Last year, 66,875 students from Punjab, 40,528 from Sindh, 46,398 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 9,230 from Balochistan, 926 from Gilgit-Baltistan, 4,036 from Azad Kashmir, and 12,118 from Islamabad took the MDCAT while 185 candidates in Dubai and 197 candidates in Saudi Arabia had also appeared in the test. Last year, 180,534 students appeared in the MDCAT, and this year, it was expected that around 200,000 students would participate in the exam. However, fewer students have registered compared to last year. The responsibility to conduct MDCAT under the administration of public universities of Sindh was started from the year 2017. In 2017, Dow University of Health Sciences was assigned the responsibility. Vice Chancellor Dow University Prof. Muhammad Saeed Quraishy, who had taken charge as VC a few weeks, before MDCAT, was appointed as the Chairman of the ‘Admission Committee to Medical Universities and Colleges Sindh. This exam was conducted in collaboration with the National Testing Service (NTS), which led to some students objecting to questions being out of the syllabus. So they went to court and the court settled the case by giving extra marks to the students and Prof. Mohammad Saeed Quraishy was successful in this first challenge. The arrangements were excellent, and there were no allegations of paper leaks. Subsequently, in 2018, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, and in 2019, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, were assigned this responsibility.Last year, Jinnah Sindh Medical University was designated the responsibility for the MDCAT. However, the exam paper scheduled for September 10 was leaked, jeopardizing the future of thousands of students. Following the Sindh High Court’s decision to annul the results, the Sindh government decided to re-conduct the MDCAT. However, the responsibility to reconduct MDCAT 2023 was assigned to Dow University of Health Sciences instead of Jinnah Sindh Medical University. Within a short period of nearly a month, Dow University reconducted the MDCAT on November 19. Subsequently, various students challenged this test as well, but Dow University was vindicated in the court’s decision. Sources say that for MDCAT 2024, Dow University is making stringent arrangements, and a new test centre has been set up at Ojha Campus.