ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will hold its annual medical and dental college entrance examination in Riyadh on Sunday alongside dozens of centers at home, allowing overseas students to take the mandatory test for admission to Pakistani medical schools, the country’s health minister said on Thursday.

The Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) is a mandatory entrance examination for students seeking admission to public and private medical and dental schools in Pakistan, where medical education and professional standards are regulated by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

“The MDCAT examination will be held on Sept. 20, 2026, at 34 centers across Pakistan and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at a total of 35 locations, with 138,160 candidates participating,” Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal said in a statement posted on X.

The minister said the government was committed to ensuring the examination was conducted in a “transparent, secure and fair” manner.

Riyadh is the only international venue announced for this year’s examination. Pakistan also established an MDCAT center in Riyadh last year to facilitate overseas Pakistani students, making the Saudi capital the sole international venue for the main 2025 examination.

According to local media reports, Kamal recently said around 80 subject experts had prepared a bank of 8,000 questions for this year’s examination, with each province provided with two separate papers containing 180 questions each.

The new system is designed to prevent a leak or other problem in one province from disrupting the examination across the country. Under the arrangement, the provinces and designated medical universities are responsible for conducting the test, while the federal health ministry and PMDC will monitor the process.

Kamal said universities would be held responsible if an examination paper was leaked or transparency requirements were breached.

The examination comes amid a wider debate in Pakistan over access to medical education and the role of MDCAT in determining admissions.

A Senate health committee this week called for an overhaul of the admission test and an increase in the number of medical school seats, saying around 93,000 students who qualify for MDCAT are unable to secure admission each year.

Pakistan currently offers around 22,300 annual seats for students seeking admission to Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programs at public and private medical colleges.

The committee recommended reviewing the 50 percent weightage currently given to MDCAT in admissions and lifting the existing cap on medical seats, while medical education officials cautioned that any expansion would need to maintain educational standards.