KARACHI: The provincial government on Tuesday informed the Sindh High Court that the federal government had encroached upon the legislative domain of the province by enacting the Pakistan Medical Commission Act, 2020 as education was a provincial subject.

The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) had filed a petition before the SHC against the decision of the Sindh cabinet through which it reduced the passing marks of the candidates, who had failed the medical and dental college admission test (MDCAT), from 65 per cent to 50pc.

On Tuesday, the Sindh health secretary and the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) filed comments.

The health secretary stated that the controversy did not pertain to regulating and controlling the medical profession, but about examination of the MDCAT.

“It is the provincial government that has necessary legislative and executive competence to deal with matters pertaining to education and the federal government did not have legislative competence to enact a law to regulate the matters related purely to the subject of education,” the secretary stated.

A larger bench is hearing PMC’s plea against reduction of passing marks of failed MDCAT candidates

The health secretary stated that in pursuance of the cabinet’s decision, the public and private medical and dental universities and colleges were directed to admit candidates of MBBS/BDS having marks not less than 50pc in MDCAT-2021.

He further submitted that the province of Sindh pursuant to its policy had also decided to reserve 95pc seats for the candidates having domicile of Sindh while remaining five per cent for candidates of other provinces on a reciprocal basis for the admission session-2020-21 in respect of private medical and dental universities/colleges.

He stated that if the trend of admitting students of other provinces continued than after a few years Sindh would face a severe shortage of doctors.

He submitted that the World Health Organisation had recommended one doctor for 850 people but the ratio in Sindh stood at only one doctor for 3,200 people.

The court was informed that the total sanctioned seats for MBBS/BDS programmes in public sector universities and colleges of Sindh were 2,300 and 495, respectively.

The seats for MBBs and BDS in private sector institutions were 1,850 and 750, respectively. The collective seats in the province were 5,360.

The health secretary further stated that the MDCAT was based mostly on federal curriculum, which was different from the curriculum set by the province of Sindh for its medical colleges.

He stated that this created an uneven playing field for the students of Sindh that resulted in low percentages. Since the subject of education came within provincial domain, the PMC could not claim any regulatory mandate, he added.

Earlier in December 2021, the Sindh cabinet had decided to establish the Sindh Medical and Dental Council with the objective to regulate medical profession and education and to recognise medical and dental qualifications in the province.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro has been hearing the case and will take up the issue again on Wednesday (today) as the petitioner’s lawyer sought time to go through the comments of the respondents.

The PMC in its petition argued that the decision of the Sindh cabinet and its consequent impugned notifications, actions and steps were unconstitutional, illegal and violation of the PMC Act 2020.

It contended that the Sindh government had no mandate to allow students who had failed the MDCAT examination to be eligible for admission.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2022