ISLAMABAD   -  The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday issued notices to the Ministry of National Health Services, the Ministry of Interior, the Pakistan Medical Council (PMC) and others in the last signed petition of late Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan against the results of the recently-held Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Tests (MDCAT). 

A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Babar Sattar conducted hearing of the petition filed by Waqas Malik Advocate in accordance with the will of the late scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and directed the respondents to submit their response within three weeks in this matter.  The IHC bench also sought response from the interior ministry and directed it to submit the record of cases registered against medical students and asked the authorities to inform the court about the process of conducting the National Licencing Examination (NLE). 

During the hearing, Advocate Malik contended that a centralised order cannot be issued after the 18th Amendment and prayed to the court to set aside the PMC Conduct of Examination Regulations 2021. 

He added that baton-charging of young doctors was tarnishing the country’s image globally and introducing a new system for conducting exams without giving students appropriate time is not right. 

In the petition, the petitioner Dr Khan said that he felt dejected by the materialistic approach of the functionaries and ill-treatment with the future of Pakistan, hence this petition. 

He added that the government half-heartedly dissolved the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and set up the Pakistan Medical Commission, which as usual resulted in a mess. 

He further said that the poor students had been forced to appear in a useless test (MDCAT) and required to pay each time more than Rs6,000. 

The petition told that earlier in 2018, the public universities and colleges used to select students on the basis of marks obtained. The universities and colleges were allowed the number of seats/students up to that aggregate marks and merit list was prepared and published. It said that the private educational institutions were also following the same rules. 

Therefore, he prayed to the court that students should be promoted on merit instead of adopting a commercial approach. He also prayed to the court to declare examination regulations 2021 of PMC as null and void.