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The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has strongly rejected claims of an 80% fee hike for MDCAT 2025. The Council clarified that the fee has only increased from Rs8,000 in 2024 to Rs9,000 in 2025, marking a 12.5% rise. In a statement issued on Saturday, PMDC called the viral figures misleading and inaccurate. It assured candidates that the increase was modest and necessary due to operational costs.
PMDC confirmed that the MDCAT will be held on Sunday, October 5, 2025. The test will be paper-based and feature 180 multiple-choice questions, with no negative marking. The subject distribution will include 81 questions in biology, 45 in chemistry, 36 in physics, and nine each in English and logical reasoning.
The exam will be conducted in English with a common syllabus agreed upon by all provinces. Different universities will oversee the test in each region. The University of Health Sciences (UHS) will conduct it in Punjab, while Khyber Medical University (KMU) will handle Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Sindh, IBA Sukkur will be responsible, while BUMHS will manage Balochistan. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) will conduct the exam in Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Riyadh.
PMDC stated that it does not conduct the MDCAT directly. Instead, it ensures standardization and transparency by managing the syllabus and question bank. The Council explained that the slight fee hike was due to rising printing costs, enhanced security, logistics, and staff payments. It emphasized that the decision was made after consultations with all exam-conducting universities to keep the process fair and affordable.
Online registration opened on August 8, 2025, and will continue until August 25, 2025. Late registration will be accepted until September 1, with an additional fee. PMDC urged students to register only through the official website: mdcat.pmdc.pk. It advised candidates to carefully choose their test center and complete all required details, warning that incomplete applications will be rejected.
