Private medical and dental colleges are worried that they might not get as many students as they want for MBBS and BDS courses in the session 2014-2015.
This year, a total of 69,477 candidates applied for medical studies.
Public and private medical and dental colleges have a total of 9,623 seats, with 3,708 at 28 public medical colleges and nine dental colleges.
The remaining 65,769 candidates will vie to secure seats at 55 private medical colleges and 18 dental colleges.
The Health Ministry, in a bid to ensure quality education at the private medical institutions, said candidates will have to get 40 out of 100 in the MCQ test this year.
Private medical institution officials, however, said they were concerned about the ministry’s decision as they believe such a decision would prove troublesome.
Sources say a number of top officials of Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA) met the health minister on Thursday. It was said they would urge the minister not to publish test results before finding a solution if enough students failed to score 40.
A total of 29,650 students got 40 in the previous admission test. No minimum pass mark was set as any candidate scoring 120 out of 200 was eligible to apply. Of the 200 marks, 100 is calculated based on a candidate’s SSC and HSC results (60% of HSC and 40% of SSC) and the rest comes from the admission test.
This year, however, no student will be allowed to apply if he does not obtain a minimum of 40 marks in the written test.
Last year, several hundred seats remained vacant, sources say. A total of 465 students preivatye who scored 110 were allowed to enrol in compliance with a High Court directive. The Health Ministry challenged the decision and the High Court later passed an order in favour of the ministry.
However, the order was again challenged by the BPMCA and it has not yet been disposed of.
BPMCA President Dr Moazzem Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune he was concerned about the number of candidates who would be able to score 40 in the admission test.
“We will propose to withdraw the pass mark bar. We want at least 45,000 candidates to be eligible to apply to be admitted at private medical and dental colleges. Last year, the ministry kept the option open for more than 50,000 students,” he added.
Professor Dr ABM Abdul Hannan, director of medical education at the health directorate, told the Dhaka Tribune there was no such plan yet to change the pass mark bar.
The medical admission test was held yesterday. Each year, test results are published within 48 hours of the exam but it will be published late this year, Health Ministry sources said.
