MDCAT to be retaken on Nov 26 in seven centers

PESHAWAR: A meeting held here with caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Azam Khan reviewed arrangements for the re-conduct of Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT).

MDCAT 2023 for admission to both public and private sector medical and dental colleges of the province was held on Sept 10, but it was cancelled after cheating cases were detected. The entry test would now be held on November 26. Centers would be set up in seven districts – D.I Khan, Kohat, Peshawar, Mardan, Dir Lower, Swat and Abbottabad.

A total of 46,220 registered candidates would participate in MDCAT whereas 219 candidates found involved in cheating during the previous test have been black listed.

The Khyber Medical University Peshawar will retake the test. MDCAT held on September 10 was cancelled after over 200 students were caught cheating.

Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Dr Riaz Anwar, Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, Additional Chief Secretary Home Abid Majeed, administrative secretaries of concerned departments, the vice chancellor of Khyber Medical University and officials of the police and intelligence agencies also attended the meeting via video link.

The meeting approved in principle the proposed action plan of the KMU for retaking the test and decided to constitute a committee to be headed by the additional chief secretary home to implement the action plan in letter and spirit. It was also decided to assigns special tasks to the police, district administration, intelligence agencies and other concerned departments for holding the MDCAT with utmost transparency.

The chief minister stressed the need of foolproof arrangements for holding the test in transparent manner and directed all the concerned authorities to ensure that cheating that happened during the MDCAT last time should not happen again anyway.