Increased accusations of fraud and poor management is observed particularly in relation to alleged paper leaks. Up to 160,000 applicants took the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT), which was administered nationwide on Sunday. 

According to sources within the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), given their past experiences, they had expected such attempts.

“We have been confirming the complaints that we have received from all around the nation. We will publish a thorough report on the complaints after they are examined, and we will take the necessary action,” they continued while talking to a media person.

Rumors of a paper leak started spreading in Sindh early in the morning, but Dow University of Health Sciences assured candidates that these claims were “baseless.”  At least fifty people are detained in Quetta for cheating, and 11 applicants’ “devices” are found in Islamabad. 

Under the condition of anonymity, a faculty member criticized the claims of malpractice, asserting that multiple parties had taken their cut and outsourced the test. The exam was further outsourced by these academic establishments after being contracted out by the PMDC to multiple universities. 

“First and foremost, the PMDC collected the fee (about Rs8,000) from the candidates and then instructed universities to conduct the exam after deducting its portion (around Rs2,000) from each applicant’s fee. However, after subtracting their portion, several universities went on to outsource the MDCAT to other universities. No stakeholder will take on the burden now that the test has been outsourced, he stated. 

While the universities are being blamed for outsourcing the exam, parallels were also made between the PMDC-organized exam and the National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) exam for institutions under army control. 

A candidate informed the media that, in contrast to the PMDC, which cost Rs8,000, they had paid only Rs6,000 for NUMS. 

“The quality of the NUMS test answer sheets was significantly higher than that of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University.” The student stated that NUMS’s refreshment quality was significantly better and that the invigilators’ conduct was likewise positive. 

The district administration teams travelled to various locations in Islamabad. Even after Section 144 was implemented, a huge crowd was seen outside practically all of the centres. The government announced in a statement that 11 candidates’ electronic devices had been found. Police in Quetta filed complaints for cheating on more than fifty candidates and detained two people for allegedly helping others cheat on the test. 

The police reported that cell phones and Bluetooth gadgets had also been taken. “Among the arrested candidates are twelve from Balochistan,” they claimed. The facilitators and the candidates who were discovered to be cheating were moved to the airport police station. It has been revealed that most of the candidates arrested for cheating were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

Dr. Shabbir Lehri, vice chancellor of Bolan Medical College University, and the police verified the arrests for academic dishonesty. 

With the help of two people in Quetta and a retired government official of the Federal Public Service Commission in Islamabad, the devices were being utilised to solve the exam. More than 5,000 individuals applied for the MDCAT, which was held at the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering, and Management Sciences in Quetta. 

On Sunday, at least 167,744 students took the MDCAT. 58,380 students were found in Punjab, 38,678 in Sindh, 42,329 in KP, 5,806 in Balochistan, 18,408 in Islamabad, 3,145 in AJK, 739 students in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 259 candidates in overseas centres, according to the breakdown of candidates by province. In addition to 30 locations throughout the nation, the test was also conducted at two international facilities in Dubai and Riyadh and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.