Following the Sindh High Court directives related to fresh MDCAT 2024, the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi declined to conduct the test due to limited resources and lack of expertise.
IBA Karachi’s Acting Executive Director, Dr Shakeel Ahmed Khoja, explained that its Board of Governors established in 2002 that the institute would not act as a third-party testing agency without required expertise.
On the other hand, IBA Sukkur has independently agreed to conduct the MDCAT.
However, concerns over testing consistency arise, as the two universities operate under different legislation – the Sukkur IBA University Act, 2017, whereas the 1994 Act governs IBA Karachi – which could lead to discrepancies in test quality and grading.
READ: MDCAT 2024: FIA summon students secured ‘practically impossible’ marks
In a recent meeting with Health Secretary Rehan Baloch, IBA Karachi officials maintained their stance, while IBA Sukkur expressed readiness to proceed with the MDCAT test.
The IBA Karachi has recommended that an exercise of this scale be delegated to one party, and since the Sukkur IBA has volunteered for this task, it should be assigned to the IBA Sukkur, while IBA Karachi has extended logistical support to IBA Sukkur.
According to The News International sources, the health secretary, Rehan Baloch attended a meeting with senior officers of IBA Karachi and Sukkur in the metropolis, where IBA Karachi expressed its inability to take the test; however, despite SHC orders, Secretary Rehan Baloch did not convince the IBA Karachi for the task and the meeting was ended in vain.
Earlier to this, IBA Karachi successfully administered medical admissions tests, but a 2002 policy change halted this service.
Following the nullification of Dow Medical University’s MDCAT on September 22, the SHC directed IBA Karachi to manage MDCAT for citizens and the rest of Sindh by IBA Sukkur.
