The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday ruled that the terms set for MDCAT in order to get admission in medical colleges are solely a privilege of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (MDCAT), reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
During the hearing of the case, the lawyer for the petitioner stated that 55 percent numbers are fixed for admission in MBBS and 50 percent for BDS.
He further argued that due to the strict policy, many seats remained vacant. The lawyer further said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Larkana, recommended 45 and 40 percent numbers mandatory for the admissions.
On this occasion, the lawyer representing the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) said that the criteria of admission was adopted as per the policy.
He said that 14,300 candidates from Sindh obtained the required numbers. The number of candidates is far above the allotted quota of 4,400.
The PMDC lawyer said that almost all seats of government and private medical colleges are filled. Only 284 seats in private colleges are still vacant.
On this occasion, the court said that medical profession is a noble one so they cannot compromise on this.
The court also said that the Sindh government had recommended lowering the criteria of merit. The court further said that the extension in admission laws by the PMDC was not as per the law.
The court observed that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had also turned down a request to ease the merit policy due to vacant seats.
The court further said that the issue of vacant seats is not to lower the criteria but to facilitate the deserving candidates to obtain admission.
Reporter: Aajiz Jamali