Entry test percentage for Punjab medical institutes raised by 50 percent this year

Punjab medical colleges entry test percentage



Punjab medical colleges admission test percentage raised to 50
Lahore, Sep 25: Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has said the present government, by increasing health budget by 37 per cent, has ensured modern health facilities and free medicines as well as air-conditioning in general wards to poor and resourceless people, as a sum of more than Rs 4 billion is being spent annually on the provision of free medicines in the DHQs and teaching hospitals in the province.

He was addressing a meeting regarding entry test in medical colleges at the CM's Secretariat, says a handout issued here on Thursday. Provincial Minister for Education Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, MNA Ayaz Sadiq, MPA Dr Mukhtar Bhart, Chairman Planning & Development, Additional Chief Secretary, secretaries of Health and Higher Education departments, principals of medical colleges, vice-chancellors of King Edward Medical University and University of Health Sciences, and senior officers concerned attended the meeting.

He said the decision to hold entry test had been taken in 1998 for admission to professional colleges as Booti mafia was having a field day at that time and examination centres had become a source of income while disclosure of examination papers was a common practice. He said that health, education, law and order and other sectors faced a decay during the eight-year dictatorial regime and due to flaws in the system of entry test, the children of rich families started hindering the path of higher education for talented but poor students through self-finance scheme and other means.

He further said that due to effective strategy and as a result of syllabus-based entry test, the admission rate of students hailing from South Punjab remained 12.5 per cent as compared to that of the central Punjab, which was 10.5 per cent last year. He said students studying under the trees and on the mats showed better performance than the students of Lahore and Islamabad. He said that like position-holders, the students of remote areas qualifying the entry test with distinction would also be encouraged and not allowed to lag behind only due to financial problems.

Shahbaz said that centres for entry tests had been set up in far-flung areas where honest and well-reputed supervisors had been deputed so that poor and resourceless students could benefit from this facility close to there homes.

The meeting was informed that various measures of international standard had been taken to ensure hundred per cent transparency in examination and to check unfair means and activities of the Booti mafia.

It was also told to the meeting that weightage of the entry test would be 50 per cent instead of 40 per cent from the next year, and the students failing in the test would not be registered by the UHS. Similarly, private medical colleges will be bound to display their admission lists after the declaration of the entry test result by the medical colleges in public sector.

It was further informed that centres had been set up in 12 cities of Punjab for entry tests whereas there would be two centres in Lahore. Similarly, the merit list of the entry tests will be displayed on October 21 and selection list of candidates of MBBS and BDS on November 7. The classes will start from November 16. The nation