18 doctors booked for exam malpractice

BHUBANESWAR: As many as 18 doctors were booked for malpractice during the Post- Graduate Medical Entrance Examination held here on Sunday. Sixteen of them were caught with mobile phones while two for exchanging answers. Director, Medical Education and Training (DMET), Dr PK Dash and Joint Director Dr Sitaram Mohapatra, who carried out a thorough check of the examination centre at OUAT here, scratched the answer-sheets of the PG aspirants disallowing them to continue appearing for the test. Not long ago, doctors at AIIMS had been caught for e-copying and as a precautionary measure the DMET had strictly banned use of electronic gadgets such as mobile phones in the examination halls. Every year, entrance test for 200 PG seats in three medical colleges is held by the DMET. While the DMET is the chairman of the entrance committee, medical colleges are entrusted with the job of convening the test. This year, MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, was the convener.“Malpractice during such an important entrance test cannot be tolerated. The candidates will go on to be specialists in the future and they cannot adopt unfair means,” Mohapatra said. Half of the 200 seats, for which the entrance was held, is reserved for in-service doctors while the rest is for candidates who are in private practice or just cleared MBBS. Since the questions are of objective type, the examining body adopts strict measures to prevent candidates from using unfair means. Reason: The means would put in jeopardy prospects of the talented and hard-working candidates.  Interestingly, some of the booked candidates were in-service doctors. The DMET will report them to the State Government for necessary action. For the examination, two dozen rooms had been booked in OUAT.