No entry test from next year, Dr. Tahir

LAHORE – Entry Test for admission to the medical and dental colleges of the Punjab for the year 2005 were held on Sunday simultaneously at the University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore), Siddique Public School (Rawalpindi), Bahauddin Zikriya University Engineering College (Multan), Islamia University Engineering College (Bahawalpur) and Agriculture University (Faisalabad).
Total 12802 candidates appeared in the test out of which 6194 candidates appeared at UET Lahore, 2774 at Rawalpindi, 2120 at Multan, 1171 at Faisalabad and 543 at Bahawalpur. All the candidates reached the test centres an hour before the commencement of the test. The UET had 120 examination centres and strict security was employed outside and students were stringently watched inside the examination halls.
It is also learnt that the Chief Minister Punjab Ch Pervaiz Elahi also remained in constant touch with the Examination Committee. Chairman Examination Committee and Principal King Edward Medical College Prof. Mumtaz Hassan, Parliamentary Secretary Health Dr. Farzana Nazir, Principal Fatima Jinnah Medical College Prof. Muhammad Akbar Chaudhry, and others visited the examination halls.
Vice-Chancellor University of Engineering and Technology Lt.-Gen. (R) Muhammad Akram said the UET made the transparency of the entry test certain and provided conducive conditions to the students for the test of two-and-a-half hour duration.
This was the consecutive 8th examination held for the medical colleges of Rawalpindi, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Multan, Faisalabad, FATA and Kashmir medical colleges.
The result will be announced on October 9 and will be displayed at the UET website www.uet.edu.pk. The result cards will be dispatched to the individual candidates by post.
It was the last entry test for admission to medical colleges and there would be no more entry tests in the coming years, said Punjab Health Minister Dr. Tahir Ali Javed on Sunday.
Chief Minister Punjab Ch Pervaiz Elahi had already hinted at the possibility of not holding the entry test. On the other hand, there has been a lot clamour about the requirement of the entry test when the pre-medical intermediate examination is free of the corrupt Mafia, as claimed by the government. Dr. Tahir maintained that as a result of concerted efforts to improve examination system and make it transparent, the government after the recommendations of the admission committee had decided to abolish the entry test in future. “A five-member committee has been constituted, and its recommendations are in final stage," said he added. Dr. Tahir stated that during the previous governments, the examination system had become doubtful because of use of unfair means and rampant corruption, but now these had been eliminated.