Seat blocking racket: PG aspirants fear the worst

Nexus between medical colleges, students costs genuine candidates dear

But a number of candidates already fear the worst nightmare - having no seats to choose from due to a vicious nexus between colleges and a few sham students.

At the counselling on Sunday, up for grabs will be seats in hugely expensive courses such as Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Surgery (MS) and Diploma/Master of Dental Sciences (MDS). This has left many students, belonging to middle-class families, awfully distressed.

Reason: Year after year, quite a few students who got seats through the All India Post Graduate Medical/Dental Entrance Examination (AIPGMEE) at lower fees have also been grabbing seats through the entrance tests conducted by RGUHS and the Consortium of Medical, Engineering, and Dental, Colleges-Karnataka (Comed-K).

While the low-priced seats taken through AIPGMEE are retained by the students, those obtained through RGUHS and Comed-K are surrendered to the concerned colleges. Of course, this forfeiture of a PG medical seat is “rewarded suitably” by the college that pays Rs five lakh to Rs 10 lakh to the student. Once a seat is surrendered, it falls into the college’s management quota and is sold for at least Rs 50 lakh.

In order to expose what they call a “nexus” between the colleges and the sham candidates, a section of students have joined hands and formed the “Anti-Blocking Committee” (ABC).

Questioning the rationale behind multiple seat-picking, an MBBS graduate from Al-Ameen Medical College said he had little hope of pursuing post graduation in medicine. “The situation is totally hopeless. We can do little about it,” the student, requesting anonymity, told Deccan Herald.

Recently, they approached Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde seeking his intervention in the matter. But he too appeared helpless. Another candidate, who graduated from the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in 2004, but is yet to get a PG seat, says: “The Lokayukta expressed his inability as the matter is sub judice.” As per rules, a student who selects a seat at the All India counselling has to take admission within 10 days. Many students do this. But as the seat-selection in the first round is provisional, they also appear for counselling conducted by the RGUHS and Comed-K. There, they pick the seats and block them. The first-round of All India counselling ended on March 21. Another aspirant said: “Why would anyone have to pick another seat at a lesser-known college for a higher fee when he/she has already chosen one at a reputed college at a lower fee?”