The West Bengal University of Health Sciences has decided that MBBS examinations in different medical colleges in the state would now be held under CCTV surveillance, an official said.
As part of new standard operating procedures (SOPs) prepared by the West Bengal University of Health Sciences as per the instructions from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the health minister, MBBS examinations in different state-run medical colleges would now be held under CCTV surveillance and also would be live streamed, the official said.
The answer sheets would have no names, but barcodes, and during the examination, students would have to sit following the odd-even roll number pattern to avoid copying.
“The CCTV footage of the entire duration of the examination for each day will have to be sent to the university in a separate folder. The footage will be stored for at least a year,” the official said.
The steps were part of junior doctors’ demand to bring back transparency in MBBS examinations. The West Bengal chief minister had assured the agitating junior doctors to look into their demands and prepare an SOP so that strict measures could be adopted to stop any malpractices during MBBS examinations.
Junior doctors had listed 10 demands during their protest agitation following the Kar incident where a woman medic was allegedly raped and killed on August 9. “This would help keep an eye on the alleged practice of unqualified students getting MBBS certificates even after skipping four years of study. We are also hopeful that medical services will recover,” a junior doctor, who was part of the recently-held agitations following the death of a woman medic at Hospital, said.
