LAHORE - As many as 41,677 candidates (13,361 male and 28,316 female) appeared in medical and dental colleges’ entry test arranged by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) simultaneously in 12 cities of Punjab on Sunday. 
The test started at 9am at 20 centres set up in Lahore, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Gujrat, Gujranwala Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Multan, DG Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi and Hassan Abdal. A large number of police personnel were deployed at the centres to avoid any untoward incident.
In Lahore, Divisional Commissioner Imdad Ullah Bosal, District Coordination Officer Naseem Sadiq and other senior officials monitored the arrangements for a total of 8,196 female and 3,739 male candidates who appeared in the test at four centres; at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education examination halls at Majid Nizami Road, the Punjab University examination halls at Wahdat Road, the Government Comprehensive Girls High School and Government Pilot High School for Boys at Wahdat Road.
In Rawalpindi, 5,336 candidates appeared in the test. The number of candidates in Multan was 6,549, Faisalabad 4,170, Gujranwala 3,387, Bahawalpur 1,986, Sargodha 1,779 Sahiwal 2,057, Gujrat 1,500, D G Khan 1,254, Rahim Yar Khan 1,235 and 489 candidates appeared in Hassan Abdal.
The candidates who appeared in the test would compete for 3,405 MBBS and 216 BDS seats in 17 public sector medical and 3 dental colleges respectively. Besides, there are 3,050 MBBS seats available in 28 private sector medical colleges and 715 BDS seats in 12 private dental colleges of the province. After the test, UHS Vice Chancellor Maj Gen (r) Prof Aslam told the media that a scientific method had been adopted to maintain the secrecy of the examination papers. Meanwhile, the UHS has uploaded the answer keys to the question papers of different colour codes on its website. With the help of these keys, candidates can calculate their scores themselves. The official result will be announced in the first week of October.
Meanwhile, giving briefing to media at the conclusion of the entry test at the conference room of Directorate General Public Relations Punjab, Punjab Health Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu said that holding of entry test for admission in medical colleges was a proof that the government was committed to promote merit and transparency. Secretary Health Punjab Hassan Iqbal, Vice Chancellor UHS Maj Gen (R) Muhammad Aslam and Director General Public Relations Punjab Amjad Hussain were also present.
The minister informed that 20 centres and 43 sub-centres were set up in 12 cities of the province for the conduct of the entry test. He said the chief minister had assigned duties to provincial secretaries, commissioners, district coordination officers and other senior officers to oversee the entry test.
Answering a question, the health secretary said that ban on tuitions for preparation of entry test could not be imposed. However, academy mafia would not be allowed financial exploitation of the students, he said.