ISLAMABAD - Vice Chancellor (VC) of University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore has ordered to constitute a committee to probe the poor results of the medical students in the annual exams recently held under UHS. The committee would be comprised of five senior professors from medicine profession to probe the falling percentage of the results in the recent MBBS examinations, organised by UHS Lahore, the management of the University told this scribe. A few days back, the announcement of the MBBS annual examination results, as announced by the UHS, had triggered protests and demonstrations against the very strict criteria of paper checking adopted by the University. A large number of students, including those of prominent medical colleges, have failed in the recent exams. In a survey conducted by TheNation, the students openly expressed their reservations regarding the recent Pharmacology paper offered to MBBS 3rd year students. Hundreds of students, who failed in the aforementioned subject, blamed UHS for adopting extra-stringent attitude regarding paper checking. Protest demonstrations organised by the students of Nishtar Medical College Multan and Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi, both of which are ranked among a few best medical colleges across Pakistan, clearly support the fact that something had gone wrong in MBBS examinations this year. Some medical students wishing anonymity severely deplored the administration of University of Health Sciences Lahore. "This melodrama is repeated every year. Whenever our annual exams are held, the UHS takes up any particular subject to target the students," said a student adding that she had received very good marks in other subjects but got flung in Pharmacology. Students also reported that the University with a narrow margin of 1 to 3 marks had failed a few of them. "The students could have been awarded grace marks, instead of being failed by such a narrow margin. The UHS has resorted to extremely senseless tactics to maintain its so-called standards," students deplored. "This practice is ruining the professional careers of students," they added. When contacted, Muhammad Atif, Public Relations Officer, (PRO) UHS said that the net percentage of results in the MBBS examinations was 64 percent. "If you compare the recent result's percentage to that of the percentages of previous years, you would find that they are more or less the same. There's no big difference between the current results and the previous ones," he mentioned. Replying to a query regarding the protests organised by the students of prominent medical colleges, Atif said, the result percentage of Nishtar Medical College, this year, was 52 percent. Our record shows that the annual percentage of the college result was 54 percent in the year 2004. Record reveals that the college has maintained the similar range of percentage in the recent years. The PRO went on saying that it was not correct to claim that all the medical colleges have suffered from poor results since Allama Iqbal Medical College and Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS), have exhibited good results with a percentage of around 85 percent. "Pharmacology is a tough subject and numerous students fail this subject every year. Therefore, these protests are unjustified, " he maintained adding that the paper setters and paper checkers in the MBBS examinations come from various medical colleges and UHS has a limited role in the formation and checking of papers. "We only compile the results," he informed. It is worth mentioning here that not only the medical colleges, but also several dental colleges affiliated with UHS have suffered a setback in passing percentage this year. Around fifty percent students have failed in the final year BDS examination held in the twin cities, this year. "UHS takes up any particular paper to target the students and this malpractice is repeated every year," the students alleged.