The Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) 2026 was held peacefully across Punjab on Sunday, with no untoward incident reported at any of the 31 examination centres established in 15 cities.
The examination was conducted by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) from 10 am to 1 pm. Of the 49,203 candidates registered for the test, 47,501 appeared, while 1,702 candidates were absent.
City-wise attendance showed that 11,480 candidates appeared in Lahore, 5,234 in Faisalabad, 1,814 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 6,045 in Rawalpindi, 1,356 in Gujrat, 2,367 in Sahiwal, 1,857 in Sargodha, 2,495 in Gujranwala, 1,912 in Sialkot, 2,213 in Bahawalpur, 1,020 in Rahim Yar Khan, 6,911 in Multan, 1,571 in Layyah, 545 in Bahawalnagar and 681 in Mianwali.
UHS Vice Chancellor Maj Gen (Retd) Prof Sohail Sabir visited all six examination centres in Lahore along with former UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Nadia Naseem and other officials. He met officials, vice chancellors, principals, focal persons and senior faculty members deployed at the centres and inspected arrangements for candidates.
Prof Sohail Sabir expressed satisfaction with the orderly and peaceful conduct of the examination, crediting the coordinated efforts of UHS, district administrations, police, medical universities and colleges, examination staff and other government departments.
He appreciated the officers, faculty members, invigilators, security personnel and support staff for carrying out their duties and said the successful completion of the test reflected the collective efforts of all those involved.
Secretary Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department Punjab Azmat Mahmud also visited MDCAT centres in Lahore and reviewed the arrangements. He expressed satisfaction with the overall conduct of the examination and coordination among the departments and institutions.
Comprehensive security and monitoring measures were implemented at all centres. These included NADRA biometric verification, walk-through gates, security personnel, scanners, medical facilities and other arrangements aimed at providing candidates with a secure testing environment.
District administrations in the respective cities facilitated candidates and their parents by ensuring security, traffic management, parking, drinking water, medical assistance, emergency response and crowd-control arrangements.
Around 3,700 invigilators and supervisory staff were deployed at the examination centres under the supervision of UHS focal persons. Vice chancellors and pro vice chancellors of public-sector medical universities served as regional in-charges, while principals of public-sector medical and dental colleges acted as centre in-charges. Senior faculty members and officials from the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department were also assigned monitoring duties.
Parents remained outside examination centres in Lahore and other cities while the test was underway, with many praying for the success of their children.
Following the examination, UHS provided candidates with carbon copies of their response forms, as has been the practice in previous years.
UHS will release the MDCAT 2026 answer key after 6 pm on Sunday. Candidates will be able to estimate their scores by comparing their response-form carbon copies with the official answer key.
The official MDCAT 2026 result is expected to be announced within a week.
