The Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) will be re-conducted on November 24 in Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, following a court ruling that invalidated the initial exam.
According to media reports, over 17,000 students have registered for the retest after the Islamabad High Court, presided by Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, declared the September 2024 MDCAT invalid, citing issues raised by students.
The original test, conducted by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), faced scrutiny after students claimed that several exam questions were out of syllabus, confusing, and that test papers were improperly handled after the exam.
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Students demand fairness
The call for a retest emerged from a petition filed by six students, including Ammar Naeem, Shahzaib Wazir, and Saba Iman, who cited concerns about exam transparency and fairness.
Named as respondents were the federal government via the Health Ministry’s Secretary, the President of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the Vice-Chancellor of SZABMU, and the Chairman of the National Medical and Dental Board.
The students argued that 26 to 27 questions out of the 200 were out of syllabus and claimed that exam papers were collected post-test, an unusual practice that raised further transparency concerns. Parents and students also staged peaceful protests, calling for the test to be annulled and re-conducted to uphold exam integrity.
