Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA) has urged the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to withdraw the cut-off mark (the lowest score with which a candidate can get into a public medical college) set as 120, for qualifying in this year’s medical and dental admission tests.
They issued a letter to the Director General of DGHS on January 2, requesting to open up opportunities to all who appeared at the admission test for MBBS and BDS courses for the academic year 2013-14, regardless of whatever marks they obtained in the admission test.
The public and private medical colleges in the country enroll students on the basis of the results of one common admission test. The dental colleges – both public and private – also have their common tests.
These tests carry 100 marks for the written examination plus 100 marks for the weights of the HSC and SSC results. Out of the latter 100, HSC results carry 60 marks and SSC 40.
A grade point average (GPA) of 5 in HSC equals 60 marks while a GPA 5 in SSC equals 40. A candidate must have an aggregate GPA of 8 from the two exams, which must not include any GPA of less than 3.5.
Professor Shah Md Selim, secretary general of BPMCA said more than 60,000 students who appeared in the tests were GPA 5 achievers both in SSC and HSC. Therefore it was not fair to judge them through an hour long 100 mark admission test that requires only 20 marks to get into a medical or dental college.
Such system does not exist in India, Nepal and other countries, he added.
Because of the minimum cut-off mark 120 and the present political turmoil, only eight to 10 out of 50 medical colleges were able to admit students. A number of medical colleges failed to admit students even after receiving the first installment of the admission fees, said Selim.
Md Ikram Bizu, finance secretary of BPMCA, informed the Dhaka Tribune that in most of the private medical and dental colleges the major source of funds is the students who make up the foreign quotas (35% of total seats).
The usual annual cost of a college, including academic and development costs and bank loans, is Tk15- 25cr. The figure may vary depending on the quality of the institute. However, because of the political instability across the country, the admission of both local and foreign students has become uncertain.
It has become really tough for the colleges to operate, he added.
Prof Dr ABM Abdul Hannan, director (medical education) of DGHS told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “We have received a letter from BPMCA but no decision has yet been taken in this regard and there is no possibility that a new decision will come before the formation of a new government.”
According to the statistics of DGHS, at present there are 54 private medical colleges and 18 private dental colleges across the country. During the last two to three months, 11 more private medical colleges received primary and administrative approval.
Seeking anonymity, several officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) and DGHS said the number of medical and dental colleges was increasing day by day, most of these colleges are receiving approval out of political considerations and do not fulfill the minimum requirements, they added.
A section of people stay in constant touch with the high officials of MOHFW and DGHS and offer them huge sums in bribes to withdraw the minimum cut-off mark, they alleged.
BPMCA also requested an extension to January 31 of the time limit for holding the admission tests.
The MOHFW has recently extended the date from December 30 to January 15.
Earlier the date was changed from October 20 to October 30 and later to November 30.