LAHORE: A coordination committee on the arrangements of medical colleges entrance test 2014-15 being conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) has raised the issue of non-release of Rs25 million advance matching grant for holding the test.
The committee also shared that this year around 9,000 more candidates are appearing in the entrance test scheduled for August 31 compared to the last year that would cause additional financial burden on the UHS management.
Headed by Punjab additional chief secretary, the meeting, however, gave a final shape to all the other arrangements for entrance test with the hope that the funds would be released without any further delay.
Health Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir, vice chancellor of UHS, and other senior officials concerned were also present in the meeting.
According to the meeting minutes, the UHS is expecting 50,000 candidates to appear in the entrance test 2014 compared to the last year’s 41,677.
70pc of candidates to be girls in this year’s test
It further stated that of the total candidates, 70pc will be females that showed that the trend of girls’ joining the medical profession continued without any break.
The committee shared that the government was yet to release advance matching grant worth Rs25m to the UHS to meet the expenses.
The participants were apprised that the UHS had proposed an increase last year in the entrance test fee from Rs5,00 to Rs1,000 to meet the expenses.
However, the competent authority had rejected the proposal on the ground that no extra burden would be put on the candidates. Consequently, Rs25 million was proposed to meet the expenses but the UHS had not received a single penny.
The health secretary informed the meeting that a note had been moved to the finance department in the light of the policy approved by the Punjab government for the release of the grant.
He further said that as the said grant was not a part of the government’s new policy on entrance test, a fresh summary would be initiated for allocation of Rs25m for the conduct of entrance test.
The house also recommended increase in the number of women police at the centres established all over the province for holding the entrance test according to the number of female candidates appearing in the exam.
“As per the policy, it was decided that the secretaries of 16 provincial departments, all the divisional commissioners, district coordination officers will monitor the arrangements,” the meeting minutes said.
The UHS VC said the centres would be established in 13 major cities of the province and declared Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, and Faisalabad challenging districts for the entrance test due to high number of candidates there.
