KARACHI: The Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) will be held afresh on December 8, the provincial health department announced on Wednesday. According to officials, 38,609 candidates are expected to appear in the test being organised by Sukkur IBA. This time, three exam centres will be set up in Karachi and one each in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Sukkur and Larkana. Officials said that the provincial cabinet had already approved an amount of Rs232.14 million for holding the exam so that the candidates who appeared in the Sept 22 test could sit in the retake free of cost. Last month, the Sindh High Court had directed the provincial government to hold afresh the MDCAT within four weeks after a probe committee unanimously concluded that the entire test procedure was compromised. The court founds several key factors contributing to the paper leak including the presence of a weak regulatory framework within educational institutions and examination boards. In some cases, there was inadequate coordination between the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and the universities conducting such exam, the judgment said. The court had also asked the Sindh government to meet all expenditures required to retake MDCAT and to hire the services of IBA Karachi/IBA Sukkur for the purpose.