The Sindh government has requested the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to assist in preventing cheating and paper leakages during the upcoming Medical & Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT). In addition to the FIA’s involvement, the provincial government has also reached out to the health department and the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) to ensure the integrity of the exam.
As part of the effort, the Sindh government has asked the FIA to assign seven officers of grade 18 to visit examination centers across the province on the day of the exam. The authorities aim to monitor and prevent any illicit activities during the test, which is expected to have a large number of candidates.
A total of 38,683 students are set to take the MDCAT, which will be held in six cities across five divisions of Sindh. This step comes after several allegations of paper leakages and mismanagement at the exam centers during previous tests.
In the most recent MDCAT, held on September 22, 2024, across five cities in Sindh, over 38,000 candidates participated. The test was organized by Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), which has been in charge of conducting the exam for the past three years. The university allocated a total of 1,945 MBBS seats for public sector universities in the province, with 1,691 seats reserved for open merit and 254 for self-finance.
However, shortly after the test, the Young Doctors Association (YDA) accused the DUHS of mishandling the exam, alleging that the MDCAT paper had been leaked before the exam began. In response, several students staged a protest outside DUHS, calling for an investigation into the allegations and urging the Sindh Chief Minister to take action on the matter.
As the exam approaches, the Sindh government’s collaboration with the FIA is seen as a crucial step to safeguard the transparency and fairness of the MDCAT process.
