Senate Panel warns of FIA probe over MDCAT complaints against PMDC

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) faced tough questions from a Senate committee over complaints about the Medical

Islamabad:  The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) faced tough questions from a Senate committee over complaints about the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT), including alleged wrong answer keys, questions that may have been outside the syllabus and the decision not to release the question paper to students. Senators questioned the fairness of an inquiry conducted by PMDC officials themselves and pressed for the question paper and answer key to be made public within 72 hours. The committee also warned that the matter could be referred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) if the concerns were not properly addressed.

The committee raised questions about the independence of the inquiry after PMDC reported that it had found no major irregularities in the examination conducted through IBA Sukkur. A PMDC team said four senior directors, including the head of examinations, had visited the centre and reviewed the examination process, CCTV recordings, the checking system and the system for handling complaints.

The team said it had examined more than 1,000 complaints and checked the Optical Mark Recognition sheets of the top 20 candidates for signs of tampering. It reported that it had found no evidence of irregularities. PMDC also told the committee that the Sindh government had carried out its own review and reached a similar conclusion.

However, senators questioned whether PMDC could fairly investigate an examination for which it shared responsibility. Senator Anusha Rehman argued that an inquiry should be conducted by independent people rather than by the same institution whose work was under question.

Committee members called for an independent review and discussed involving people who were not part of PMDC. The chairman warned that the matter could be referred to the FIA if the concerns were not resolved. PMDC officials said they took the committee’s concerns seriously and would hold further discussions with university vice chancellors.

The inquiry team also presented figures from Sindh. It said 34,235 candidates had registered for MDCAT, while 33,336 appeared in the examination. There were nine examination centres, including two in Karachi and one in Islamabad for candidates from Sindh.

The highest score was 179 out of 180, achieved by a girl from Shikarpur who took the test at the Sukkur centre. Candidates from Hyderabad and Larkana were among those who scored 178, while candidates from Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah scored 177.

Of the top 20 candidates, seven were from Hyderabad, four each from Sukkur and Larkana, three from Mirpurkhas, one from Karachi and one from Benazirabad. The inquiry team also said no candidate from the Karachi Board appeared among the top scorers listed in its board wise review.

Senators said the high scores of students from smaller cities were not, by themselves, a reason to question their performance. They stressed that the issue was whether the test had been conducted fairly, not whether a candidate came from a large city or a smaller town.

Senator Shahzaib Durrani asked the inquiry team to provide the FSc marks of the top 20 candidates and also suggested checking a wider group of the top scorers. He argued that their earlier academic records should be compared with their MDCAT results to help establish whether the inquiry had examined the matter fully. The team agreed to share the additional marks with the committee.

The chairman also criticised the inquiry for focusing on the test process without properly checking the candidates’ previous academic performance. Members stressed that the review should establish whether any irregularity had taken place and then identify who was responsible, rather than casting doubt on students because of their location or background.

Another major point of disagreement was the refusal to let students keep the MDCAT question paper. Senator Anusha Rahman read out complaints from candidates who claimed that some answer keys were wrong and that certain questions were unclear, defective, outside the syllabus or had more than one possible answer.

The complaints listed six questions in paper code 2, numbered 24, 83, 110, 135, 136 and 174, for independent academic review. These were claims raised by candidates and presented during the meeting.

Senators argued that students could not properly check their answers if they received an answer key but were not allowed to keep the question paper. Senator also said that some students were struggling to identify the answers they had marked on carbon copies of their answer sheets. Making the question paper available, members argued, would help students check their performance and could reduce doubts about the results.

PMDC said it had consulted the vice chancellors involved in conducting the examination before deciding not to release the paper. According to the council, most had advised against releasing it because coaching academies could use the questions and expose the question bank. The committee challenged this explanation and suggested making the question bank public so students could prepare fairly. The chairman referred to a bank of about 8,000 questions and argued that a larger pool could be developed to avoid repeated questions.

The committee pressed PMDC to take action on the question paper and answer key issues within 72 hours. Members said transparency was essential because even one disputed answer could affect a student’s admission chances.

PMDC also faced questions over a policy that required Pakistani students planning to study medicine abroad to sit the MDCAT. Senator Anusha Rehman said students had paid the examination fee, prepared for the test and sat it before PMDC withdrew the requirement on October 5.

She questioned why the policy had not been announced earlier and asked what relief would be given to students who had taken the test only because they believed it was compulsory for admission to foreign medical and dental institutions. She also questioned whether anyone responsible for introducing the policy had been investigated or held accountable.

According to the discussion, the PMDC Council had decided on September 14 to exempt students seeking admission to foreign medical and dental institutions from the mandatory MDCAT requirement. However, the public notice announcing the decision was issued on October 5, after the examination had taken place on September 20. The senator argued that students should have been informed before the test and questioned why the decision had not been made public sooner.

She further argued that under Section 17 of the PMDC law, a policy of this nature should have gone through the Federal Government or the relevant provincial government. She accused PMDC of announcing the rule without proper government approval or consultation.

PMDC informed the committee that a review committee had been revived to examine the policy and that a further meeting was scheduled with vice chancellors. Senator Rehman urged the council to include people from outside PMDC in the review, arguing that those involved in making the decision should not be the only ones investigating it.

The Senate committee chairman warned that repeated disputes over MDCAT were damaging public confidence in the medical admission system. He said PMDC had been given an opportunity to improve the process, but suggested that if it failed to ensure a fair examination system, the committee could recommend allowing universities to conduct their own admission tests and make their own selection decisions.

Under the proposal discussed by the chairman, PMDC’s role could be limited to setting a minimum eligibility requirement of 60 per cent marks, while universities would decide which candidates to admit. This was presented as a possible recommendation if problems continued, not as a final decision already implemented.