The latest in an ongoing spat, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has advised Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) to stay out of the admissions process of medical and dental students, issuing a warning to all private medical colleges against violating the PMC's new admission criteria.
The Sindh health department had ordered JSMU to begin admitting students who scored a 50 percent or above on the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) to the college.
The new guidance from the Sindh health department goes against the PMC's previous admissions criteria, which has maintained that the passing percentage grade for the MDCAT should remain at 65 per cent.
“Any attempt by JSMU to undertake admissions in private medical or dental colleges will amount to not only usurping a right of the private medical and dental colleges but [will be] in direct violation of the PMC Act, 2020,” states a letter to the JSMU Vice Chancellor from the PMC.
The ongoing dispute between the two medical entities has caused uncertainty for sitting medical students, who remain unclear under whose authority their admission will be evaluated, or under which criteria.
“PMC and Sindh health department officials should sit together and resolve it for the better interest of medical education in the country. Sindh should agree to a 65 pass percentage for medical college admissions, while the PMC should lower pass percentage for dental colleges to 50% this year to resolve this issue for the moment,” said the principal of one of the leading private medical and dental colleges in Sindh, who wished to remain anonymous.
The Sindh health department had ordered JSMU to begin admitting students who scored a 50 percent or above on the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) to the college.
The new guidance from the Sindh health department goes against the PMC's previous admissions criteria, which has maintained that the passing percentage grade for the MDCAT should remain at 65 per cent.
“Any attempt by JSMU to undertake admissions in private medical or dental colleges will amount to not only usurping a right of the private medical and dental colleges but [will be] in direct violation of the PMC Act, 2020,” states a letter to the JSMU Vice Chancellor from the PMC.
The ongoing dispute between the two medical entities has caused uncertainty for sitting medical students, who remain unclear under whose authority their admission will be evaluated, or under which criteria.
“PMC and Sindh health department officials should sit together and resolve it for the better interest of medical education in the country. Sindh should agree to a 65 pass percentage for medical college admissions, while the PMC should lower pass percentage for dental colleges to 50% this year to resolve this issue for the moment,” said the principal of one of the leading private medical and dental colleges in Sindh, who wished to remain anonymous.