Islamabad, February 09, 2023 (PPI-OT):The Senate Committee deliberated on the Public Petition relating to ‘Third Party Analysis on difficultly level of MDCAT test 2022 conducted by University of Health Sciences (UHS) and Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU)’. Dr. Suleman, Registrar PMDC, apprised the committee that the authority maintains a ‘Questions Bank’ and questions for all sorts of examinations are selected from it.
However, the PMDC has received a total of 808 complaints from students for rechecking of the examination and a minute anomaly was observed in marks of only three students and these kinds of anomalies mainly occur due to wrong questions being made part of Question Bank, he added. The Chairman Committee expressed satisfaction with reply of PMDC and disposed of the matter.
Furthermore, the appeal submitted by Syed Zulqarnain Kazmi for reinstatement in service was also taken up. The Complainant, Syed Zulqarnain Kazmi, informed the committee that he was appointed on Contract basis in 2009 and his services was made regularised in 2013 against the Post of Chief Statistical Officer. However, he was diagnosed with Brain Haemorrhage in 2013 and acquired medical leave for three years and joined back in 2017 for merely six months.
Kamran Rehman, Additional Secretary for NHSRC, apprised the committee that after availing medical leave for three years the complainant remained absent for around 700 days on different occasions and despite being declared fit by Central Medical Board eventually get dismissed from service in 2021.
Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Junejo inquired as to whether the previous records of complainant was taken into consideration before pronouncement of decision. In reply to that, Kamran Rehman stated that no previous record of candidate is available because the concerned merely joined duty for six months after the regularisation.
The Chairman Committee disposed of the matter while commenting that despite complex medical history there isn’t any sufficient evidence which can be seen tilted in the favour of complainant.
Moreover, the senate body also discussed the matter of advance charging of fee by Private Medical Colleges. Senator Prof. Dr. Mehr Tak Roghani, mover of matter, informed the committee that Jinnah Medical College is demanding advance fee for whole year from new students which amounts to around 16 lac rupees.
Senator Dr. Humayun Mohmand questioned that, as of now, the PMDC is being run by interim members and whether or not PMDC is empowered to take such decisions. To which, Registrar PMDC told the committee that the said decision was taken by PMC not PMDC.
Chairman Committee declared the decision of PMC absurd and reiterated that the hopes of many parents for their children’s’ bright future could be diminished by such decisions. So, therefore he advised the ministry to take the matter into consideration.
While considering the public condition regarding providing exemption to MCPS students for FCPS Degree in consonance with other qualifications/ degrees. The CPSC officials highlighted the differences in scope and induction into two programs and argued that they were two different programs. However, the Chairman committee recommended the CPSC officials to provide relaxation to students of MCPS for FCPS examination.
The meeting was attended by Senator Prof. Dr. Mehr Taj Roghani, Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Senator Fawzia Arshad, Senator Dilawar Khan, Additional Secretary for NHSRC Kamran Rehman Khan, Registrar PMDC Dr. Suleman, Chief Manager CPSP Major(R) Sohail and other concerned officers were also in attendance.
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