As many as 65,155 candidates including 41,563 female and 23,592 male, once again appeared in Medical and Dental Colleges’ admission test (MDCAT) which was re-conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Sunday. The Punjab government announced the re-conduct of MDCAT earlier this month after a high level inquiry found evidence of leakage of MDCAT paper of the test held on August 20. The test, started at 0900 hrs, went of peacefully at 28 centres set up in Lahore, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Gujrat, Gujranwala Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Multan, D.G.Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Hassan Abdal. Candidates started reaching their centres as early as 6 o’clock in the morning. More than 5500 invigilators and supervisory staff performed duties at these centres. All the centres were sealed at 8:15 am. A large number of police personnel were deployed at the centres to prevent any disruption of the examination. Ambulances and fire brigades were also made available at the centres to counter any untoward incident. Besides, close circuit TV (CCTV) cameras, mobile phone jammers and walk-through gates were installed at major centres. Body search of the candidates was also conducted. There were proper arrangements for the disabled students, parking and waiting area facilities for the parents of the candidates. Back-up power generators were also provided at some of the centres.On the direction of Chief Minister Punjab, senior bureaucrats and government officers including provincial secretaries monitored the test.
