The Medical and Dental Council, in an urgent response to concerns of dental colleges over low rates of admissions, has granted a special 10-day window from February 1 (today) for dental colleges.
According to Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), this window is only for dental colleges to complete their admissions while also allowing them to consider students who may have applied to other colleges and are now interested in obtaining admission to a different dental college. It added, over the past weeks, representatives from medical and dental colleges especially from Punjab met with the President and the Vice President of the PMC to discuss the extremely low response by students for admission to dental colleges. This was also followed by written requests to look into the matter, it said. Suggestions made by the colleges included lowering the MDCAT pass standards as well as granting an additional one month for admissions. The facts provided by the dental colleges highlighted that very few students applied to dental colleges to start with and even fewer accepted offers for admission.
The majority of the colleges agreed with the commission’s finding that the increased fee for dental colleges coupled with a limited career option after graduation led to the students making an informed choice and these factors were seen by them as a deterrent to selecting dental education as a choice. The commission pointed out that the market forces are determining the demand for not only the choice of education but also the colleges that students seek to aspire to. The commission noted that lowering of standards is simply not an option as the same would represent allowing ultimately a lower quality output in terms of graduates who are to become tomorrow’s doctors and dentists. The commission also pointed out that the primary objective is to ensure students with the capacity and capability to undergo the rigorous of a medical and dental program are admitted to the limited seats in medical/dental colleges.
It said that it is not the mandate of the commission to forcibly ensure all seats are filled in a private college. It is for the private colleges to provide the quality of education and value in training which would attract students to compete for a seat in the institution.
The commission also noted that the decline in response to dental education had commenced a year ago as it was seen mainly in dental colleges in Sindh and this has now extended to dental colleges in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, to provide maximum relief to the dental colleges, the matter was placed before the Medical and Dental Council by the President PMC and the Council decided the exceptions for dental colleges as MBBS admissions will close on January 31st, 2022. Only admissions of students with delayed results will be allowed till February 10.
It was also allowed that BDS colleges may, however, continue their regular admissions on vacant seats till February 10, 2022, including admission of students with delayed results. Dental colleges between February 1st and February 10th, 2022 may entertain admission of students, subject to merit, who may have applied to other medical or dental colleges but not the offering college itself.
It said that the exemptions are provided in response to requests received from multiple dental colleges to the reduced response to admissions. However, no admissions beyond February 10, 2022 will be entertained by any public or private college. It added, all public and private colleges both medical and dental will be required to submit to the Commission by 11:59pm on February 11th, 2022, the final admission lists of students by uploading the lists on the PMC’s online portal. Lists of admitted students not provided as per scheduled time will not be entertained thereafter under any circumstance. The commission has reiterated that any attempted admission by a college of a student who has not qualified the MDCAT will be strictly taken cognizance of including the cancellation of such college’s registration with the PMC. Under no circumstances will such admissions be acceptable or regularized in the future. The commission also noted that the deadlines for closure of all national admissions being February 10, 2022 will be strictly enforced with no exemptions. It said that Pakistan Medical Commission as the sole medical and dental education regulator of Pakistan aims to improve healthcare education by setting standards at par with global best practices. Only then Pakistan will be able to produce competent and skilled doctors and dentists who will improve the healthcare delivery system of Pakistan, it added.
