If you are an MBBS or BDS graduate in Pakistan planning to apply for a postgraduate medical or dental programme, a major rule change just landed. The University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore has made its Postgraduate Entrance Test (PGET) mandatory for induction into Level-III postgraduate medical and dental programmes, and in the process the long-running Joint Centralized Admission Test (JCAT) is being phased out — it will no longer be conducted or required for these admissions. Here is what the change means and what to check before you apply.

What Changed

For years, aspiring postgraduate medical and dental trainees in Punjab sat the JCAT as the gateway exam for induction into Level-III programmes — the advanced postgraduate track that leads to qualifications such as MS, MD, MDS and FCPS under the province's Central Induction Policy. UHS has now confirmed that PGET qualification is mandatory for Level-III induction, starting with the January 2027 intake, and that JCAT is being retired from this role. In practical terms, if you were planning your postgraduate medical career around sitting JCAT, you now need to redirect your preparation and paperwork toward PGET instead.

Who This Affects

This change is directly relevant to:

• MBBS and BDS graduates planning to apply for Level-III postgraduate training (MS, MD, MDS, FCPS) under Punjab's Central Induction Policy for the January 2027 intake.
• House officers currently completing their mandatory internship year who are starting to plan their postgraduate applications.
• Anyone who had already begun preparing specifically for JCAT and needs to confirm whether that preparation still applies, and whether a separate PGET registration is now required.

What We Know So Far

UHS has published a notification covering the "Table of Specifications" for PGET 2026 — essentially the test blueprint that outlines how the exam is structured and weighted — along with a corrigendum (an official correction notice) to an earlier announcement. Candidates can access PGET-related applications through UHS's dedicated online portal. Beyond the headline rule change itself — PGET becoming mandatory and JCAT being dropped for Level-III induction from January 2027 — UHS has not published every operational detail (such as the exact test date, registration closing date, or fee) on its public-facing pages at the time of writing. Because a corrigendum has already been issued once, candidates should treat this as an evolving notification and check the official portal directly before finalising any plans, rather than relying on secondhand dates circulating on forums or social media.

What You Should Do Now

1. Bookmark and check the official UHS admissions portal regularly (admissions.uhs.edu.pk) rather than relying only on second-hand roundups, since the corrigendum shows details are still being refined.
2. Read the Table of Specifications notification in full. This document is your best guide to how PGET is structured and what to prioritise in your preparation, rather than guessing based on the old JCAT pattern.
3. Don't assume JCAT preparation is wasted — the subject matter for postgraduate medical entrance tests tends to overlap heavily (core and allied clinical subjects), but the format, weighting, and registration process for PGET may differ from JCAT, so verify rather than assume.
4. Talk to your institution's postgraduate medical education (PGME) office. Teaching hospitals and medical colleges typically circulate official guidance to their house officers and alumni as soon as provincial policy changes like this take effect, and they are often the fastest way to get a confirmed test date before it's publicly indexed by search engines.
5. If you are on study leave or already hold another scholarship, start organising your NOC and supporting documents early — administrative paperwork, not subject knowledge, is usually what holds back otherwise well-prepared applicants when a policy changes mid-cycle.

The Bigger Picture

Centralising postgraduate medical admissions around a single, UHS-administered test is intended to standardise entry into Level-III training across Punjab's public and private postgraduate programmes, replacing a system that depended on JCAT. For applicants, the immediate task is less about re-learning content and more about re-routing your application paperwork and registration to the right test, on the right portal, before the January 2027 intake cycle closes its doors. Given that an official corrigendum has already been issued once this cycle, the safest approach is to check the UHS portal directly in the days before you plan to register, rather than trusting any single secondary source — including this guide — for the exact date and fee.