Author Topic: Medical colleges pre-entry tests  (Read 5615 times)

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Medical colleges pre-entry tests
« on: June 07, 2008, 07:06:34 PM »
Medical colleges pre-entry tests

Karachi, June 07, 2008: The Institute of Business Management (IoBM) may be chosen to conduct the pre-entry tests of around 12,000 MBBS candidates for 1,000 medical seats at the Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (LUMHS) and its five affiliated medical colleges.

The Islamabad-based National Testing Service (NTS) has been conducting the pre-entry tests for all medical universities, medical colleges, general universities and engineering universities throughout the country. The Karachi-based IoBM, which has been conducting pre-entry tests for the Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC) for the last six years, has offered its services to conduct the same test for LUMHS.

A team from LUMHS and its three affiliated colleges, including LUMHS Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Noshad A. Shaikh, Chandka Medical College (CMC), Larkana, Principal Prof. Dr Sikandar Ali Shaikh, Mahar College, Sukkur, Principal Sardar Ghulam Muhammad, Prof. Dr Azeem Hussain Yousfani and other officials, visited IoBM, Karachi, on Friday, to check the facilities.

LUMHS decided to switch from NTS to IoMB after a recent announcement by NTS that it was increasing the pre-entry test fee by Rs 200 per student, said Prof. Dr Noshad A. Shaikh, the LUMHS VC. "We were also getting complaints from some students that they not marking their papers fairly. In the meantime, we received an offer from IoBM, so, we decided came for a visit to see the facilities they have to offer," said Shaikh.

The pre-entry test is the most important procedure for candidates seeking admission to MBBS programmes, as the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council's (PMDC) rules say that 50 percent of the selection depends on the results of the pre-entry test, 40 percent of the marks obtained during Intermediate studies and 10 percent on Matriculation, said Prof. Dr Sikandar Ali Shaikh, the CMC principal. "After getting complaints about the NTS, we could not longer go through them and decided to check with IoBM instead," he added.

During the visit, IoBM President Shahjehan S. Karim briefed the team that IoBM has its own question bank and team of experts for the MBBS pre-entry test, in addition to machines to check the papers.

Shaikh said that there are 1,000 seats for medical students in LUMHS, its two attached medical colleges, Dental and Medical, and three affiliated colleges including Chandka, Nawabshah and Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College. He also noted that this is a preliminary visit and LUMHS has not yet decided to hand over the pre-entry test to IoBM. "We will sit and discuss the issue with all the principals of our affiliated colleges," said Noshad Shaikh. He added that the NTS is based in Islamabad and, thus, sometimes they face difficulties in trying to contact them. They have therefore decided to choose an institute from Sindh.

The National Testing Service (NTS) used to announce the results of the pre-entry tests within three days, but IoBM has said that they will take a week. "They [IoBM] said that the tests will be checked by the machines first and than the experts, thus taking more time," said a team member.

The principals of LUMHS affiliated colleges seem to be satisfied with this change. "When the pre-entry test for the selection of MBBS student was introduced, the IBA took charge of conducting the test for the first year. The result was great but started to change when the test was shifted to Bahria, and, later, to NTS," said Prof. Dr Assadullah Mahar, the principal of Sardar Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College, Sukkur, adding that he felt that the IoBM test pattern is better than that of the NTS. Daily Times