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Islamabad: Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday blamed an organised academy mafia for creating controversy over MDCAT, while a Senate panel questioned why thousands of students were being pushed towards expensive coaching centres for medical college admission. During a heated meeting at Parliament House, Senator Anusha Rahman said private medical colleges in Pakistan were ripping off students by charging around Rs18 lakh every year. She compared these charges with medical education in China, where Pakistani students told her they were paying around Rs5 lakh a year and nearly Rs50 lakh for their complete medical degree. Anusha Rahman said she asked a Chinese provincial governor how they provided medical education at such a low cost. She said the governor replied, “We do not penalise the future.” The meeting of the Senate Health Committee Sub Committee was chaired by Senator Anusha Rahman. Senators Agha Shahzaib Durrani and Samina Mumtaz Zehri also attended. Senator Zehri joined the meeting online. Committee members expressed anger over the federal health minister’s late arrival. Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani said the meeting had already been rescheduled three times at the minister’s request. Anusha Rahman warned that another meeting would be called the next day if the minister failed to attend. After joining the meeting, Mustafa Kamal said the MDCAT system could be improved but claimed that, in his view, the current system was perfect. He said coordinated text messages were being sent to senators to pressure them and delay the medical admission test. “Do not become emotional over these messages. This is the season of messages and there is a mafia behind them,” the minister told the committee. He also claimed that students sometimes demanded delays by citing floods and other emergencies as reasons. The minister said students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sometimes called for postponement even before floods reached Balochistan. He said some students later claimed that their books had been washed away in floods. Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri rejected the idea that all complaints were organised. She said the committee was receiving around 50 messages from students every day and asked why their problems had not been addressed. She also raised concerns that FSc, A Level and MDCAT examination dates were overlapping. The minister said the MDCAT would be held around three weeks after the final board examination. He said the last board examination was expected to end on July 20 and MDCAT would be conducted three weeks later. The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council told the committee that around 135,000 students would appear in MDCAT. The test will be conducted in 36 cities, including 35 cities in Pakistan and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. PMDC officials said medical colleges previously conducted separate entry tests, but the system was later changed to a national MDCAT. They said several problems had been reported in earlier years, especially regarding examination papers. To solve these problems, PMDC formed committees and prepared a nationally uniform syllabus. Officials said the syllabus was displayed on different public platforms and around 1,000 people submitted complaints. Anusha Rahman told PMDC officials that students had suffered because of weaknesses in the system. She said FSc students complained that they were asked questions linked to the A Level system, while A Level students were forced to study FSc books. She questioned why students were going to private academies and paying up to Rs1 lakh for MDCAT preparation. “Every year, academies make huge profits from these tests,” she said. She added that students were placed under heavy pressure to complete MDCAT preparation within three months. Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani said the FSc system mainly focused on detailed knowledge, while the A Level system gave greater importance to analysis and reasoning. PMDC officials said MDCAT had been designed around common learning points included in both systems. They said the aim was to provide a fair test for FSc and A Level students. The health minister agreed to review the issue and asked the committee to send students with genuine complaints directly to the ministry and PMDC. He said officials would sit with the students, listen to their concerns and try to solve their problems. The committee also raised serious concerns about fees charged by private medical colleges. Members said many seats remained vacant because deserving students could not afford the fees. They said Pakistani students were choosing foreign universities because medical education abroad was cheaper. The committee called for a review of the fee structure of private medical colleges to make medical education more affordable. Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani proposed giving 40 percent weight to MDCAT, 50 percent to academic results and 10 percent to interviews during medical college admissions. PMDC officials warned that reducing MDCAT marks could weaken the importance and credibility of the national test. The committee also recommended conducting MDCAT twice a year so students could get another chance instead of losing a complete academic year. Members appreciated some reforms introduced by PMDC but asked the council to improve public awareness. They recommended issuing brochures and running information campaigns about foreign medical colleges that are not recognised in Pakistan. The committee said students must be warned before spending money on institutions whose medical degrees will not be accepted by Pakistani authorities. It also recommended providing more house job and professional training opportunities to Pakistani medical graduates returning from foreign countries. The minister directed officials to provide complete MDCAT data from the last five years. The information will include the total number of students who appeared in the test and a comparison of FSc and A Level candidates. Committee members also sought details about the members of the MDCAT assessment committee. The health minister promised to provide those details within 24 hours. The committee decided to continue discussions on MDCAT, medical college fees and admission policies in its next meeting.