The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet has approved conducting the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) through the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (Etea), with a committee tasked with reviewing the legal and technical aspects of the transition.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, was attended by provincial ministers, the chief secretary, administrative secretaries and senior officials.
Briefing reporters on the decisions, Information Minister Shafi Jan said Etea currently had 60 registered computer-based testing (CBT) centres across the province and the country, with the capacity to test around 26,000 candidates daily.
He said Section 4(1)(a) of the Etea Ordinance, 2001, authorises the agency to conduct admission tests for professional colleges. Since shifting to CBT in September 2024, Etea has conducted more than 1,300 tests involving around 500,000 candidates.
The cabinet also approved the creation of a new tehsil in Charsadda district, to be called Umarzai.
A committee comprising representatives from the Board of Revenue, local government, planning and development, and finance departments was formed to establish criteria for future changes to administrative units, including divisions, sub-divisions, tehsils and sub-tehsils.
The cabinet approved the Transport Monetisation Policy for judicial officers and agreed to forward Joint Resolution No. 240 of the provincial assembly to the federal government.
It also approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority’s annual report for 2024-25.
Regarding the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Flood Resilience Project, the cabinet authorised the relevant department to seek financing from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) in accordance with Islamic banking principles.
The cabinet approved Rs1 billion for rehabilitation of flood-damaged infrastructure, including Rs500 million specifically for Chitral districts. It also increased, as a special case, the compensation package for Shaheed Maulana Mirza Jan of Wana to Rs10m.
A cabinet committee was formed to develop a mechanism for the universal registration of three-wheelers across the province and address the growing burden of unregulated three-wheeler traffic in urban areas.
The cabinet approved appointments to two vacant posts of commissioners in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Public Services Commission and amendments to certain provisions of the West Pakistan Registration Rules, 1929.
It also sanctioned 46 contract-based positions for service delivery centres in Lakki Marwat, Tank, Buner, Karak, Battagram, Charsadda and Abbottabad. A Rs5m grant was approved for the Khyber District Bar Association.
In the health sector, the cabinet approved the redistribution of full-body scanners among various hospitals and allowed financial assistance previously approved for three applicants to be transferred directly to their personal bank accounts, subject to verification.
Funds were also approved for eye-care equipment at MTI District Headquarters Hospital, Bannu, while bridge financing was sanctioned for the remaining construction work of the Khyber Institute of Child Health.
The cabinet approved a procedure for the transparent disposal of remaining timber harvested under the now-defunct Dry Standing and Wind Fallen Trees Policy.
It also sanctioned additional funds to meet higher customs duties, taxes and import charges for the procurement of 54 additional buses for the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit system.
The cabinet further endorsed the Gavi 6.0 Vaccine Portfolio Optimisation and Prioritisation initiative covering the hexavalent vaccine, PCV-14, DPT booster and hepatitis-B birth dose. The move will allow the country to replace multiple antigens with a single-dose vaccine.
CM announces electric bike scheme
During the meeting, Chief Minister Afridi said the Supreme Court had issued directions concerning the treatment of former prime minister Imran Khan, including treatment at Shifa International Hospital in the presence of his sister and personal doctors.
According to an official statement, Afridi criticised the federal government for what he described as failure to implement the court’s directives. He alleged that authorities had attempted to show compliance by taking Khan to the hospital at night under circumstances that lacked transparency.
The chief minister said Khan’s health remained a matter of serious concern for the provincial government.
Afridi also announced an electric bike scheme for women across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Under the programme, female college and university students as well as working women would receive electric bikes on merit.
He said the first phase would be launched soon, followed by an electric-rickshaw scheme.
The chief minister said the shift towards electric mobility would help create a cleaner environment and added that directives had already been issued to accelerate work on an electric-bus programme for divisional headquarters.
