LAHORE: The University of Health Sciences conducted entrance test for admission to public and private medical and dental colleges in Punjab on Sunday.

The test was held in 34 examination centres established in 13 cities of the province in which a total of 47,559 candidates (31,149 female and 16,410 male) appeared.

According to a handout, Additional Chief Secretary Syed Mubasher Raza and Health Secretary Jawwad Raffique Malik visited examination centres at Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education at Lawrence Road and Punjab University.

UHS Vice Chancellor Prof.

Muhammad Aslam and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.

Syed Mubasher Raza said the government had made foolproof arrangements to hold the entrance test for admissions in a transparent way. For the purpose, all secretaries of government departments and other senior officers as well as commissioners and DCOs were given the task to monitor the process of entrance test in exam centres.

The UHS VC apprised the media of arrangements. He said sitting arrangements for families of students were also made outside the centres where cold drinking water was available. He said walkthrough gates, closed circuit cameras and mobile jammers werealso installed to ensure security.

Six centres were established in Lahore which included examination halls of BISE at Lawrence Road, Punjab University exam halls at Wahdat Road, Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Wahdat Road, University of Education, Township, Government Central Model School, Lower Mall and Lahore College for Women University at Jail Road. The test was started at 9am and concluded at 12noon. In Lahore, a total 14,404 candidates appeared out of which 9,575 were female and 4,830 male students. The candidates and their parents expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by the government.

In Lahore, Secretary School Education Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, Secretary Local Government Khalid Masood Chaudhry, Secretary MPDD, Nadeem Arshad Kiyani, Secretary Higher Education Irfan Ali, Secretary Women Development, CEO Punjab Examination Commission Dr. Nasir Iqbal Malik, DCO Muhammad Usman and other of ficers monitored the event.

In Faisalabad, 4,757 candidates appeared in the test. Similarly 2,434 candidates from Sahiwal, 6,783 from Multan, 2,178 from Bahawalpur, 1,434 from Rahim Yar Khan, 1,821 from Sargodha, 5,780 from Rawalpindi, 624 from Hassan Abdal, 1,439 from Gujrat, 2,729 from Gujranwala, 1,565 from Sialkot whereas 1,611 candidates fromDG Khan participated in the test.

The government had made alternate arrangements for uninterrupted power supply. For the purpose standby generators were made available. Moreover, medical staff and ambulance were also available at every centre.

Like previous years self-scoring system in the entrance test was continued this year. Students can know their score from the carbon-copy of the answer sheet and from the answer key.

Moreover, UHS has also uploaded the answer key of different papers of colour codes on its website -www.uhs.

edu.pk -through which candidates themselves can prepare their result.

The official result would be announced within 10 days.

In the next phase only those candidates would be eligible to submit their admission forms who would obtain 82 per cent and more than that according to the formula made by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.

Admission forms can be submitted from Oct 1 to 10 in which candidates can also give their choices for medical colleges. The admission forms and prospectus will be available free of cost during the said dates from UHS Lahore, Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi, and Nishtar Medical College, Multan. First list for medical colleges will be displayed on Oct 30.-Staff Reporter