PMDC urged to lower MDCAT passing marks to fill vacant seats in Sindh’s private medical colleges
LARKANA: The management of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) has urged the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council to review the admission criteria for admissions to MBBS and BDS for the session 2025-26 to help fill the vacant seats in private medical and dental educational institutions of Sindh.
It was learnt on Thursday that the SMBBMU registrar had last month approached the PMDC and drew his attention to the seats in the private institutions going vacant as candidates failed in meeting the criteria of the admission.
In a letter, he stated that approximately 350 MBBS seats remained vacant due to the failure of aspirants in meeting the existing PMDC criteria.
It said the SMBBMU, Larkana, has received multiple requests from private medical and dental colleges, expressing serious concern over the inability to fill those seats despite repeated admission rounds.
SMBBMU seeks 10pc reduction for MBBS and BDS programmes
The registrar said that during the previous academic year, the passing criteria for MBBS and BDS admissions were reduced by five per cent in order to fill the vacant seats in the private sector medical and dental colleges. That measure proved effective in facilitating admissions and preventing the wastage of precious seats. The current criteria fixed by the PMDC for the admissions in MBBS is 55pc passing marks while for BDS it is 50pc.
The letter highlighted that during the current academic session, the number of eligible candidates was even lower than the last year while the number of vacant seats was comparatively higher. Consequently, the prevailing circumstances warranted a greater relaxation in the passing criteria than that allowed previously, it added.
The SMBBMU registrar recommended a 10pc reduction in the passing marks’ criteria. For MBBS minimum passing criteria should be reduced to 45pc and for BDS to 40pc, the communication said.
This proposed adjustment was essential to ensure optimal utilisation of available seats, continuity of academic activities and safeguard the interests of the institutions and aspiring students while maintaining reasonable academic standards and contributing to the fulfillment of healthcare service needs of Sindh, the registrar added.
The copies of the letter were also sent to the secretary health, Government of Sindh, LUMHS, Jamshoro, vice chancellor, and the chairperson Supervising & Steering Committee, Sindh.
When contacted, SMBBMU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Nusrat Shah on Thursday confirmed sending the letter and added that so far no response was received from the PMDC.
Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2026
