LAHORE: The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, UK is conducting the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (MRCS) exam in Pakistan for the first time through the British Council.

The college has also announced this year`s schedule for Pakistani candidates to apply and sit the exam in major cities, including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

The development came after one of the college`s international advisers, Prof Dr Majeed Chaudhry, submitted a suggestion to the institute to introduce this internationally acclaimed postgraduate programme in Pakistan.

Prof Chaudhry is presently heading the Lahore Medical and Dental College.

Terming it a major development, an official told Dawn it had added Pakistan to thelist ofcountries thathadtotheircredit conducting exam of this major qualification. The major beneficiaries of thisscheme would be Pakistani medics who earlier had been bearing huge expenses, including travel costs, accommodation and fee charges, to sit the same exam in the UK.

He said according to a rough estimate, nearly 7,000 doctors from Pakistan would visit the UK every year to sit the MRCS and Member of College of Physicians & Surgeons (MCPS) postgraduate programmes.

However, under the scheme, examiners would now reach Pakistan to conduct the exams.

`We are pleased to announce the introduction of five new examination centres for MRCS Part A from... September examination diet,` Prof Chaudhry told Dawn, quoting decision of the college.

He said the new centres had been established in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan; Khartoum in Sudan and Cairo in Egypt.

`These add to our existing range of centres in Bangladesh, India, Libya, the UA E, Saudi Arabia and the UK,` he said while quoting contents from the email sent by Kirsty Fleming, surgical examinations manager of the Royal College.

According to the schedule, Prof Chaudhry said, the closing date for the September examination isJune 16.

The examinations manager further asl(ed him to circulate this information to any trainee surgeons who could be interested in sitting the examination in Pakistan.

To a question, Prof Chaudhry said that efforts were underway to introduce final-year exam (MRCS B) in Pakistan too.