Over 4,390 take entry test for MBBS, BDS seats

[Salman Mushtaq]

KARACHI:31 October: Over 4,390 candidates appeared in an entry test held on Sunday on the Ojha Campus of the Dow University of Health Sciences for admission against 700 seats in the MBBS programme at the Dow Medical College and Sindh Medical College and 100 seats in the BDS programme of the Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences.
The test was conducted by the National Testing Service (NTS) from 10am to 12noon. A heavy posse of police and Rangers was deployed on the campus to prevent any untoward incident.
Entry tests for another 1,000 MBBS and BDS seats offered by other public sector medical and dental colleges and universities of the province were held at Hyderabad, Sukkur, Banazirabad (formerly Nawabshah) and Larkana.
The test conducted at the DUHS began on time as the university administration had asked all candidates to make it to the venue at least two hours before the scheduled time.
Though elaborate arrangements were made for the event, a heavy rush of vehicles in front of the main entrance to the campus caused inconvenience to the candidates at the beginning as well as at the end of the test.
Parents accompanying the candidates also had to face difficulties in parking their vehicles as no such arrangements were made close to the campus and most of them had to park their vehicles at some far off places.
DUHS Pro-vice chancellor Prof (Dr) M. Umar Farooq, who is also the chairman of selection board and SMC principal, visited the test venue with admission committee director Prof S.M. Idrees, admission coordinator Dr Ra’ana Qamar Masood and DMC Principal Prof (Dr) Junaid Ashraf to ensure that the candidates were facing no problems in taking the test.
Prof Farooq told Dawn in the evening that although the NTS had posted the test’s answer key on its website — nts.org.pk —, DUHS would declare the results within 72 hours, most probably by Nov 3.
The answer keys of the tests held at Hyderabad, Sukkur, Benazirabad and Larkana had also been posted by the NTS, he added.
Giving a break-up of the 700 MBBS seats at the DMC and SMC, a DUHS official said they were: 456 general merit seats (228 each for the DMC and SMC), 101 seats under the self-financing scheme (55 at DMC and 46 at SMC), 45 reserved seats for candidates from the interior of Sindh (22 at DMC and 23 at SMC), 16 reserved under the self-financing scheme for foreign nationals at DMC, 46 seats under the self-finance scheme for overseas Pakistanis (28 at Dow and 18 at SMC), 32 seats for the ministries of foreign affairs and economic division at SMC, two seats (one each at DMC and SMC) under the disabled students quota, two seats (one each at DMC and SMC) for Hafiz-i-Quran, two seats reserved for Balochistan, two seats for Karachi candidates at the Bolan Medical College, Quetta, and four seats reserved for Karachi candidates at the Fatima Jinnah Medical College.Of the total 100 admissions to be offered in the BDS programme at the Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, the official said that 60 of them would be filled under open merit, 34 under the self-financing scheme for locals and six seats under the self-financing scheme for overseas Pakistanis.Dawn.