From the next academic year, there will be a uniform policy
throughout the country for admission to medical colleges,
with the emphasis being not on the marks obtained in intermediate
exams, but on the entry tests.

In compliance with the Supreme Court directive of April 14 last year, a
meeting of the committee comprising the attorney
general, Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq, Zaheer Sajjad, secretary to the
ministry of health, Sikandar Hayat Jamali, secretary to the
ministry of education, and Syed Ehtram Ali, secretary of the Pakistan
Medical and Dental Council, discussed the matter in
detail.

The committee told the SC that the government of NWFP had already
introduced a pre-entrance test in the province's two government-run
medical colleges - Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, and
Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad. The committee noted that as other
provinces had not introduced any such tests, dual
standards were prevailing in the country.JJ

The committee decided to give equal weightage (50 per cent each) to
intermediate exam and the entry test for the purpose of
admission to medical colleges. However, a pass in the entry test will
not be compulsory. It was also decided to defer the
implementation of the entry test decision to next year (1998-99).JJ

The yardstick for the 1997-98 session will only be the intermediate
science examination. The council has laid down the following
priorities: first priority - F.Sc (pre-medical) grade A + & A; second
priority - B.Sc (Biosciences A + & A); third priority - F.Sc
(pre-medical) Grade-B; and fourth priority - B.Sc.(Biological
Science) Grade-B.