PMDC Reschedules Foreign Medical Graduates' Registration Exam to November 8پاکستان

<h2>Background to the decision</h2> The rescheduling comes in the wake of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf&#8217;s long march from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa towards Islamabad, which began on October 4 despite warnings from the federal government against the move. Authorities in the capital have imposed traffic restrictions and heightened security arrangements along key routes in recent days, according to media reports.

PMDC officials said the revised schedule was issued to avoid inconvenience to candidates who would otherwise have to travel to examination centres across the country, including Rawalpindi, at a time when road closures and security measures could disrupt movement. The council has advised candidates to monitor its official announcements for any further updates on the examination timetable.

<h2>What the NRE is</h2> The National Registration Examination is a mandatory requirement under an Act of Parliament, introduced to ensure transparency, standardisation and quality in medical and dental education and professional practice in Pakistan. The National University of Medical Sciences in Rawalpindi is entrusted with conducting the examination to ensure what the council describes as credibility, integrity and transparency in the process.

The examination is conducted in two steps at least twice a year, in accordance with the approved NRE standards, structure and syllabus, which the council says are at par with medicine and dentistry curricula in Pakistan. Foreign medical graduates who earned their degrees in languages other than English are required to clear both steps of the examination before they can begin a house job and obtain a licence to practise medicine or dentistry in the country.

Thousands of foreign graduates appear for the examination each year, and any shift in the schedule has a direct effect on their career timelines, including house-job placements and licensing. The council has not announced any change to the rest of the examination calendar, and candidates have been advised to prepare according to the revised November 8 date for Step-I.