The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has dismissed reports claiming that the MDCAT 2025 exam fee was raised by 80 percent.
The Council confirmed that the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test will be held on Sunday, 5 October 2025.
According to its statement, “PM&DC would like to clarify that the fee for the MDCAT has increased modestly and gradually over the past years. In 2024, it was Rs8,000, and for 2025, it has been set at Rs9,000.
This year, only Rs. 1,000 has been added to the previous year’s fee, which is an increment of 12.5%, not 80% as circulated on social media.
PMDC said the test will be conducted by universities nominated by federal and provincial authorities, not by the Council itself.
However, PMDC, as the regulator, has prepared a uniform syllabus in consultation with stakeholders and created a comprehensive question bank agreed upon by all provinces.
The fee adjustment, the Council explained, was made on the request of the universities conducting the exam, citing rising costs of paper printing, enhanced security, logistical arrangements, payments for staff, and provision of adequate facilities for candidates across the country and at international venues.
Despite inflation, PMDC said it aimed to keep the process affordable while ensuring quality and integrity.
The MDCAT will be conducted by the University of Health Sciences, Lahore (Punjab), Sukkur IBA University (Sindh), Khyber Medical University, Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences, Quetta (Balochistan), and Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad (for Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).
Online registration began on 8 August 2025 and will close on 25 August 2025. Applications submitted after this date will be accepted with a late fee until 1 September 2025.
Candidates must choose one city or centre and ensure all details are correctly filled in, as incomplete applications will be rejected by the online system.
The test will be paper-based, in English, and consist of 180 multiple-choice questions with no negative marking. The distribution will be: Biology (81), Chemistry (45), Physics (36), English (9), and Logical Reasoning (9).