90% attendance must for appearing in PM&DC exams

LAHORE:The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has decided to directly monitor the attendance of students in medical and dental colleges. All affiliated colleges will be required to submit their students’ biometric attendance records to UHS on a monthly basis.

In accordance with the notification from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC), the students with less than 90% attendance will not be allowed to sit in university professional examinations. The decision was made during a joint meeting of the UHS Academic Council and Boards of Studies on Thursday. Important policies regarding attendance, examination regulations, and academic standards were also reviewed during the meeting. The meeting was chaired by UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Ahsan Waheed Rathore and attended by heads of public and private medical colleges and affiliated health institutions.

The council approved new examination regulations, making it mandatory for MBBS and BDS students to secure at least 60% marks separately in theory and practical components of each subject. Additionally, students must achieve a minimum of 70% overall marks to pass any subject in the professional examination. These regulations will apply to students admitted in the 2024-25 session. It was also decided that candidates under previous examination schemes will be granted a maximum of four attempts to pass their exams. If unsuccessful, they will have to transition to the revised scheme. This policy will be uniformly implemented across undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The new system will streamline examinations, reducing the annual number of exams conducted by UHS from over 700 to approximately 250.

UHS also resolved to evaluate faculty performance in affiliated colleges. The assessment will determine whether institutions are taking effective measures to enhance faculty competencies. Moreover, the academic calendars for MBBS and BDS programs (2024-25 session) were approved in the meeting.

The MBBS first-year session will commence on April 3, while BDS classes will begin on April 15. The MBBS first-year professional exams will be held in the first week of February 2026, whereas BDS first-year exams are scheduled for March 2026. Additionally, private nursing colleges have been granted permission to complete admissions by the end of March, similar to public-sector institutions. Vacant seats can be filled using candidates from the waiting list. Classes for the first semester in both public and private nursing colleges will commence after Eid-ul-Fitr holidays. To evaluate the effectiveness of the modular MBBS curriculum, UHS will collect student feedback on the "PERLs" module, which focuses on professionalism, ethics, research, and leadership skills. Moreover, all affiliated institutions have been directed to establish skills labs to train students in life-saving techniques. These competencies will be assessed for all final-year students. UHS VC apprised the members that the varsity is establishing a Directorate of Sports to organise inter-collegiate sports competitions for medical and dental colleges this year. Additionally, a research writing course for undergraduate students will be introduced in collaboration with Shiraz University, Iran. Prof Ahsan Waheed also announced to extend the ‘Pyari Beti’ project to affiliated colleges, aimed at supporting female students in these institutions through community-based services.