Doctors in the country must be honest and sound-minded, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen said on Friday. That is why he said maximum precautions were taken at all examination centres staging the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) admission tests for the 2023-24 academic year. The health minister made these remarks while talking to journalists after inspecting examination centres at Tejgaon College and Dhaka University Arts Faculty this morning. Bangladesh reports 47 more COVID-19 cases in 24hrs Among others, Medical Education and Family Welfare Division Secretary Azizur Rahman, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) ABM Khurshid Alam, BMA president Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Directorate General of Medical Education Director General Prof Dr Md Titu Miah were present at the time. An electronic tracking device was put on every trunk carrying the question papers for this year's exam, through which the activities were monitored by the Directorate. Ensure safe food: Food minister No one, including the magistrate at each exam centre, was allowed to carry any electronic device in the examination hall. All medical coaching centres were declared shut one month before the exam.  On the day before the exam, the state intelligence agency was deployed to prevent any opportunity to leak or spread questions, or even rumours regarding questions, on social networks like Facebook, Dr Sen informed. "We have been as careful as possible in this year's medical entrance exam," added the technocrat minister, explaining the need for a clean process to produce the kind of doctors the country needs. "I want to see honest and better doctors in our country. I remained honest throughout my whole life, I want each doctor of the next generation to serve the people with honesty and transparency," the health minister added. Entire Bangladesh to be brought under rail network: Railways Minister The MBBS admission test for the academic year 2023-24 was held simultaneously at 44 venues of 19 examination centres of the country from 10am to 11 am. A total of 104,374 applicants competed for 11,675 seats in the country's medical colleges through the admission test.

The results of the 2020-21 admission test for the MBBS course at the country’s public and private medical colleges were published on Sunday, with 3 out of every 5 candidates who sat the test failing. Ali Nur, secretary of the Health Education Department under the Health Ministry, announced the results at around 7:00 pm from the health directorate. A total of 48,975 candidates (39.86 percent) passed the test this year, nearly four times the number of available seats in 47 public and 70 private medical colleges of the country. Also read: All professional MBBS final exams postponed The full results are available at the DGHS website. There were a total of 116,792 aspirants who participated in the admission test this year. The qualified students will get the chance to get enrolled first at public medical colleges and then at private ones on merit basis. Read AFMC, Army Medical College admission tests postponed

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday said the test for admission to medical colleges will be held on April 2 next in compliance with health guidelines.  "Examinees will sit at a distance of 3 feet.  Everyone has to wear a mask, and there’ll be sanitizers," he said while talking to reporters after a meeting on medical college admission test at his ministry's conference room. Also read: 5 held for fraudulence with fake MBBS test question paper The minister said around 1.22 lakh examinees will sit for this year's examination which will be held at 55 centres. The number of centres will be increased, if needed, he added. Zahid Maleque said," Coaching centres will remain closed before, during and after the examination, and no photocopy machine will be allowed in the vicinity of any exam centre. "