Search This Site

Friday, March 31, 2006

AIPG 2006 - Update on 31/03/2006

I have been using computers from my 6th Standard for nearly 17 years and is used to looking that the monitor for hours continuously. Never in my life so far I have felt like switching off the system and going elsewhere myself (except when some one drags me from the computer or I feel terribly sleepy)

Even in the past 4 years with RxPG, I had been the moderator and was mostly moderating the discussions.

On very few occasions I had to delete few advertisements in the forum. But for the past one month, the experience was very painful.

Let us face the facts

  1. AIPG conducted on 8th Jasn 2006
  2. Results announced on Feb and counseling stated for the first week of March
  3. Counselling was postponed as there were some irregularities and the case was handed to CBI
  4. CBI now says that there were few people who have cheated.
  5. The govt wants a re exam

Let us analyse.

First, please don’t compare this with (most of) the past episodes where the government DID NOT WANT A RE EXAM and SAID that every thing was fine. This time the Govt itself says that they want to scrap the exam

Valid Points in favour of a re exam

  1. Now if 50 people have cheated, then there are 50 genuine candidates who loose “one PG seat” and more over, almost all the rankers who are after the cheaters may loose the PG Seat of their choice
  2. You do not know how many did this. We know 50, but it could be 500.

Valid Points against re exam

  1. Just because few people (about 1 %) cheated, why should others suffer.
  2. If Mr.X copies in an exam, the normal process is to throw that guy out. That has been happening for years. Why should all other suffer ?

In short, the decision depends on how the judge(s) view this matter.

  • If this is cheating, then there may not be a re exam
  • If this is question leak (the question has been scanned and send out) then there may be a re exam

What can you do

  1. Wait till Monday.
  2. Ask your lawyer to represent your view
  3. Rankers – who do not want re exam - Ask the lawyer to argue that this is a copying with high tech gadgets. Send money and other documents to your lawyer
  4. Non rankers (and also few rankers) who want a re exam – Ask the lawyer (if you have hired someone) to convince the judge that, this is not just copying, but question leak. Send money and other documents to your lawyer
  5. Or Go to the court and Argue yourself

What you should not do

  1. Post hatred and rubbish in this forum

Yet Another Use of DocuPen

From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1471673,curpg-1.cms

In Munnabhai MBBS, Sanjay Dutt coerced a top-notch doctor to write the medical entrance exam for him. The doctors who cheated their way through the All-India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination conducted by AIIMS took a considerably more tech-savvy route. Not for them strong-arm methods, they used a lightweight gadget for their under-handed operations.

The gadget in question is DocuPen, a small, extremely powerful pen-size scanner, which was used to leak the question papers. Though CBI sleuths have so far zeroed in on only 28 doctors who allegedly used the scanners, they don’t rule out the involvement of others.

Explaining the modus operandi, a CBI official said the accused doctors had scanned the entire question paper with the help of DocuPens. Though the device is small enough to be easily smuggled in, it is also powerful enough to scan a full page in just four seconds, making it ideal for the task.

The accused then transferred the scanned data to their mobile phones using Bluetooth technology, and sent out the paper to their 'contacts' through multimedia messaging.

The contacts, sitting in Pondicherry and Madurai, immediately solved the questions and sent the answers to candidates taking the exam at the Chennai and Delhi centres through SMS.

Mobile phones were not allowed in the exam hall, but the accused managed to bring them in. Interestingly, the phones also remained unnoticed throughout the examination.

The investigating agency came to know of this innovative method while questioning the four alleged kingpins (all doctors) of the paper leak case on Thursday. All four were arrested by the CBI following raids at their residences. While two of them — P Satish Kumar and Vijay Kannan — are doing their post-graduation from Madurai Medical College and JIPMER, Pondicherry respectively — the remaining two — Ravi Kannan and N Bhasker — have completed their post-graduation from JIPMER.

CBI officials alleged that the four arrested doctors were the masterminds behind the paper leak racket, though others may also be involved. They are also probing whether the examination papers were leaked in previous years as well. Meanwhile, exam authorities have their work cut out to ensure there are no copycat crimes.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

4 Doctors Arrested

From

CHENNAI ONLINE


Four doctors, two of them pursuing their post-graduate medical studies, were arrested in connection with the alleged malpractices in the All India Post-Graduate Medical Entrance Examination-2006, a senior CBI officer said.

They were the organisers behind the scam, DIG, CBI's Anti-Corruption Bureau, N R K Reddy, said here.

The four were arrested under Sections 120B (conspiracy) read with 420 of the IPC (cheating) and 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and would be remanded tomorrow, he said.

The names of the arrested were given as Dr P Sathish Kumar (26), Dr Vijay Kannan (25), both pursuing PG courses, Dr Ravi Kannan (28) and Dr N Bhaskar (30), both completed their PG from JIPMER in Pondicherry.

Yesterday, the CBI had raided the houses of 35 doctors in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, including seven in Chennai, in connection with the case.

Investigations revealed that a group of doctors organised the whole thing for cash ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and provided the answers to about 300 objective type questions through SMS to the candidates, who were carrying mobile phones in the examination centres.

Overview of CBI Raids in AIIMS Conducted PG Exam Leak Case

The raids were carried out in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Chennai and cases against 22 doctors were registered in Chennai and 6 cases were registered in Delhi.

From http://www.rxpgnews.com/medicalnews/professionals/doctors/article_3840.shtml

By IANS & RxPG Staff Reporter,
Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) Wednesday raided clinics and residences of several doctors at 35 places across the country for their alleged involvement in the leakage of medical examination question papers in All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination (AIPGMEE) conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for the year 2006. It claims to have cracked the case of question paper leak and other malpractices committed within two days of registering the case. The investigating agency which initially registered two cases in this connection on the basis of a complaint received from the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, today conducted searches at more than 30 places spread over the States of Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The searches and subsequent examination of the suspected doctors has revealed that two doctors of Pondicherry and one from Madurai were the kingpins of this scam and they had collected amounts of up to Rs. 10 lakh from each of the candidates.

The raids were carried out in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Chennai and cases against 22 doctors were registered in Chennai and 6 cases were registered in Delhi. Officials said initial investigation had suggested a possibility of a scam and therefore raids were carried out by the agency. They said some doctors who were questioned during the raids confessed to receiving Rs.1 million for leaking the question paper and helping students answer the questions. They said the doctors had helped the aspirants by sending them text messages on their mobile phones. Question papers were taken out of the examination halls and then answers were sent through SMSs.

According to the CBI, when results of the All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination (AIPGE) were declared, it was found that 424 aspirants, who cleared the exam for 1,006 seats, were from Chennai. The entrance exam was held in January this year. Officials said among the top 100 students, 37 were from the Tamil Nadu capital. Investigations were carried out after several aspirants complained about malpractices adopted by some students during the exam.

The modus-operandi of the racket was that the question papers from the examination hall were taken out and answers were provided by a group of people which were sent through SMS to the doctors appearing for the entrance test. CBI during investigation found evidence of money changing hands and receipts taken from doctors who had organised the entire operation. CBI found that the candidates had also arranged cell phones on the day of the examination for receiving the answer keys through SMS on the cell phones.

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry was concerned about malpractices in such a prestigious examination had promptly handed over the case to CBI for investigation. During the preliminary enquiry by CBI, it was revealed that out of 1006 seats, 424 candidates had been selected from Chennai Centre alone and in the list of first 100 candidates, 37 candidates figured from Chennai Centre. The analysis of the answer sheets revealed that they had used unfair means to get selected. The enquiry concluded that there was a strong possibility of a large scale scam involving a number of doctors of Chennai and Tamil Nadu, who would have indulged in illegal acts in getting selected for this All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Test.

CBI registered the two cases on 27.3.2006 under different sections of IPC for cheating, forgery and under the Prevention of Corruption Act against 28 doctors who were suspected to have connived with unknown public servants for illegal means to pass the entrance test. Out of the two cases, one case was registered in Chennai against 22 doctors and unknown public servants and searches were conducted in Chennai, Erode, Madurai, Dindigul, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari, Salem, Villupuram, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Tuticorin and Pondicherry. The other case was registered in Delhi against six doctors (who were candidates in the entrance test) and unknown public servants and others. In this connection, searches were conducted in six places in Delhi.

CBI is going to further investigate into all aspects of the case and will try to bring the guilty persons to book at the earliest. More raids are expected.

It may be recalled that CBI had successfully investigated the AIPGMEE-2000 paper leak case and charge sheets have been filed against the accused. Besides, CBI has cracked the CAT-2004 paper leak case, Railway Recruitment paper leak case and recently the CET-2005 Delhi engineering entrance test paper leak case.

Facts that emerged today:

1. 35 places were raided in Chennai, Erode, Madurai, Dindigul, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari, Salem, Villupuram, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Tuticorin and Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi (Six Raids). These places included doctors residences and clinics.

2. Out of the three kingpins, two were from Pondicherry and One from Madurai. Each collected upto one million rupees per candidate for the leak.

3. Answer keys were sent to the candidates inside examination hall on SMS messages.

4. 424 people were selected from Chennai center amongst top 1006 cadidates (whooping 42%).

5. 37% candidates in top 100 were from Chennai center.

6. The answer sheets were analysed by CBI to establish use of unfair means. (good precedent for future)

7. 28 cases against involved candidates have been registered today under Prevention of Corruption act. Out of them 20 are registered in Chennai and 6 cases in Delhi.

- Indo-Asian News Service

Friday, March 10, 2006

TNPSC Results not now

As per http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/10/stories/2006031007920400.htm

He said following a communication from the Election Commission to the State Government, orders, including the one on setting up a panel to go into the question of providing reservation for minorities, had been kept in abeyance.

Letters would be sent to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission directing it not to release any result of examinations conducted for recruiting candidates to various positions, including that of doctors.

Results of such examinations should be published only after the completion of the election process.



So, the guys and gals who have written TNPSC have to keep their fingers crossed, at least for the next two monbths......

Poor Guys.... They had three option this year and the doors seems to be closed on all 3, at least for the time being

1. AIPG (All India PG) - CBI is investigating and the counselling has been post poned

2. TNPG (Tamil Nadu PG) - It seems that a lot of people are going to file a case

3. TNPSC - Results kept in abeyance till elections

Strong Medicine

This is the letter I wrote to Rashmi Bansal http://youthcurry.blogspot.com , editor of JAMMAG for here column in http://sify.com/news/columns/fullstory.php?id=14159870&page=1 and http://sify.com/news/columns/fullstory.php?id=14159870&page=2 The column is given below after my letter

Dear Mate,

I am a doctor from Tamil Nadu and a regular reader of your blog.

This mail is with reference to your column http://sify.com/news/columns/fullstory.php?id=14159870&page=2

WHile you have potrayed the situation very well, I differ from your column on one POINT.

Yes, the government does subsidise medical education, but that is also the case with IITs or government engineering colleges. In those cases, the ‘pound of flesh’ theory does not seem to apply!

The above line is CORRECT. But the subsidy is for the MBBS (undergraduate part) only.

Let me explain.

An engineering college, has many departrments and an administrative office. The administrative office deals with the pay and other functions.
The departments include, Mechanical, Engineering etc in an engineering college and Maths, English etc in an Arts college ( I have no idea about IIM)

The staff include
1. Professors
2. Lecturers
3. Lab Workers
4. Sweepers and Drivers
5. Principal etc

What is the purpose of all these staff... To teach the students......
Suppose students do not join for 5 years........ How much work do these people do..... (You can calculate)

Now come to the budget of the college.
The expenses are the costs involved in
1. Salary
2. Maintenance of the building
3. Papers / Lab articles etc

Now come to the income
1. Fees paid by the students.

Take IIT, IIM or even a government school. Obviously the fees paid is negligible and is about the 5 % of the expenses and the government spends 95 % as a subsidy.

Now come to an UNDERGRADUATE COURSE in a Medical College.

Medical College,as you may know is never a college alone (This is where we differ from the americal system of medical school).

By default, it is attached to a Hospital.

A medical college, should have the following departments
1. Anatomy
2. Physiology
3. Biochemistry
4. Pharmacology
5. Pathology
6. Microbniology
7. FM
8. SPM
9. ENT
10. Ophthal
11. Medicine
12. Surgery
13. Paediatrics
14. Ortho
15. OG
16. Radiology
17. Radiotherapy
18. Anaesthesia
19. Dermatology
20 Psychiatry

These 20 departments are must for a medical college. in addition you can have any number of more departments like Urology, Cardiology etc.

All these departments have
1. Professor
2. Assistant Professors
3. Staff Nurse
4. Pharmacist
5. Ward boy
6 Sweeper

in addition the college also has an administrative office. concerned with maintenance of hospital, DRUGS, Equipments etc

Now you see how the budget is used
Expenses
1. Salary
2. Drugs
3. Equipments
4. Maintenance
5. Stationery

Income
1. Fees.
2. Subsidy by the government.

Now comes the important point.

Of the 20 departments, I mentioned, only 3 - Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology are exclusively for Students.

ALL OTHER DEPARTMENTS are for TREATING PATIENTS

Of the expenses invloved, the expenses that are invovlved towards educating AN MBBS STUDENT is the expense of the salary of the staff of the above 3 departments (out of the 20) and the stationery.

ALL OTHER EXPENSES are for treating PATIENTS

In short, government is subsidising, NO DOUBT, but 98 % of the subsidy is for HEALTH and less than 1.5 % is for Education.

But what will you hear. They will calculate the annual expenses and divide it by the number of students and tell that we are spending 22 lakhs for each doctor.

The truth is that EVEN IF A MEDICAL COLLEGE DOES NOT ADMIT MBBS STUDETNS, it will still have 98 % of its expenses for TREATING PATIENTS.

Now come to the Post Graduates..... The government does not even spend that 1.5 % (except for the PGs in the 3 departments I have mentioned).

In other words.....

Let me ask these simple question.

1. What will be the workload of a professor in IIM when students are on strike. Will it increase or decrease
2. What about when a Post Graduate Resident is on strike.

If there are NO STUDENTS JOINING in a course, will you run the course or shut it down. you will shut it down and bring the expenses to ZERO

If you are going to shut down KEM just becasue the PGs are on strike, will the patients allow you.

In other words, is the subsidy the government, WRONGLY AND INTENTIONALLY says that it is giving for Medical Education, a subsidy for educating students or for treating patients.

Treating the patient free or for money is not the theme of this article. I have written this to tell you that the subsidy which we are supposed to get is not for us doctors....... but for the patients

With regards

Original Article : Strong medicine By Rashmi Bansal
It's rare indeed when the word strike and the word 'justified' come up in the same sentence. At least in my dictionary.

BMC workers lay down their brooms. Bank employees lay down their pens. Airport workers lay down at the entrance. You wish someone would fire them from their jobs to teach them a lesson. But no, generally the government buckles under and grants them a Diwali bonus.

The strike by resident doctors in Maharashtra, currently into its 12th day, is different. For once, I feel the cause is justified, that the method adopted was the last one available.

What are the doctors on strike asking for? The right to some basic human dignities—as one doctor eloquently described the situation. (http://www.mard.org.in/featuredart2.html)

“You work 24 hours a day… no fixed working hours, no fixed meal timings, less than four-five hours of sleep, emergency duties, five-six people staying in one small room, inadequate sanitary conditions, unhygienic food, constant stress, too many patients and too few equipment and facilities, inefficient supporting staff…”

The pressure from patients at the few government run hospitals is so high that it is not unusual for 2 doctors to see 300-400 patients in morning OPD, then look after ward patients and then go back to casualty filled with patients.

And although they may have cursed the system in private, residents continued fulfilling their duties, until the day that relatives of a patient who died beat up a doctor.

It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s already strained back. The match that lit the simmering discontent.

And now there is a raging fire.

A fire to not just get a few demands met, but to see some change in the system of medical education and public health as a whole.

Despite the boom in private medical colleges, it is an undisputed fact that government colleges attached to public hospitals attract the best brains and offer the best training. Students know that they will benefit from the exposure to a variety of cases that no private hospital can hope to attract.

The problems begin at the PG level, where the seats for specialisation are very limited. After a great deal of struggle, the MBBS graduates who get posts as ‘residents’ find that they bear the burden of the entire hospital’s functioning. Hospitals which attract hundreds of patients everyday not only from the city, but distant villages and talukas where there are no primary health care centers—let alone decent hospitals.

Yet the resident doctors take up the challenge, carry out their duties. For this they get paid, in Maharashtra, a sum of a little over Rs 8,000 per month. Which is around Rs 2,000 less than what is being earned by unskilled "Class IV" workers of the BMC (ward boys and sweepers).

Yes, the government does subsidise medical education, but that is also the case with IITs or government engineering colleges. In those cases, the ‘pound of flesh’ theory does not seem to apply!

A job well done needs to be rewarded with an adequate, if not lucrative stipend. Earning Rs 8,000 per month for a job that stretches 12-14 hrs a day is not adequate. Especially when you are in your late 20s!

Conditions cannot be so trying that people are turned off the profession of medicine. Which, if you ask me, is exactly what is slowly starting to happen.

The future of medicine

Medicine should not become a 'family business'—attractive only to those whose parents are already in the profession. It must continue to attract bright and idealistic young people. People who want to find a cure for cancer or rid humanity of its suffering. Sure, most of them will get hardened and cynical someday. But they need not get disillusioned too early.

In the past schemes wherein doctors were sent on ‘compulsory rural service’ failed. The trick is not to make such service a compulsion. If the government/ NGOs can provide basic infrastructure, medicines and some moral support, there are young doctors who will come forward to take up the challenge—at least on a short-term basis.

The current strike is sending quite the opposite signal to young doctors and even those contemplating a career in medicine. It is sending the signal that the system does not care about us, so why should we care about the system?

Yes, gradually you find more doctors opting for MBAs, for jobs in hospital administration and pharmaceutical companies. More doctors willing to give GRE and take up research instead of clinical jobs because it’s far easier to get a visa that way.

But speak to any of these doctors and there is a twinge of regret. The acknowledgement that ‘this is not what we slogged for’. The feeling that the word doctor minus the word patient is incomplete. Yes, we did the ‘practical’ thing, but in our heart we know it’s like cheating.

So rest assured that doctors are aware of the suffering being caused to patients. No doctor enjoys going on strike. The wounds must be deep for them to have taken this drastic action.

The bottom line is that the BMC can spend a little less on painting and repainting road dividers, or on repairing the mayor’s bungalow. Pay resident docs a little more money and a lot more respect. For a change, the healers need our healing touch.

Rashmi is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate and founder-editor of youth magazine JAM (www.jammag.com). She can be reached at rashmi@jammag.com

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Why hit a doctor ????

Kuch Kaha, Kya? Random Relationship Rantings blogs about the MARD Strike in his blog at http://o3.indiatimes.com/anant_rulz/archive/2006/03/06/520790.aspx

What caught my attention is the last few lines which I want to share with you

BTW, can you imagine hitting a water/electricity, Municipal corporation, Income Tax, Sales Tax, Police employee or any other govt servant?

Why hit a doctor?

Just because you can?

State/Institute wise comparison of stipend and tuition fee#

# Data compiled by MARD http://mard-strike.blogspot.com/, confirmed by personal contact of the residents of the Individual states.

*NA – not available.
Second Highest Fees - Tamil Nadu
Lowest Stipend of Rs 5000 - Tamil Nadu (it is rumoured to have been rised to 8500)
Highest Fees to Stipend Ratio - Tamil Nadu

State/Institute wise comparison of stipend and tuition fee#

Institute/state

Stipend

Tution fees

Allowances

1

AIIMS

21800

250

2000 book, 5000 thesis

2

Delhi

21000

6000

3

JIPMER Pondicherry

18000

1000

3000 books, 6000 thesis

4

NIMHANS

17700

750

5

BHU

17000

1500

6

Haryana

15500

35,000

7

Jammu Kashmir

15400

1,200

8

Bihar

15000

30000

9

Punjab

14800

30,000

10

Uttar Pradesh

14500

16,000

11

Madhya Pradesh

14,000

35,000

12

Chhattisgadh

11800

0

13

Rajasthan

10500

2000

14

Kerala

10000

18500

15

Goa

9625

4600

16

Maharashtra

8340

18000

17

West Bengal

8250

12000

18

Orissa

7500

6000

19

Gujrat

7000

7000

20

Assam

6950

2500

21

Andhra Pradesh

6400

1500

22

Karnataka

6230

10000

23

Tamilnadu

5000

30000

24

Jharkhand

NA*

NA

25

Himachal Pradesh

NA

NA

# Data compiled by MARD, confirmed by personal contact of the residents of the Individual states.

*NA – not available.


State/Institute wise comparison of stipend and tuition fee#

Institute/state

Stipend

Tution fees

Allowances

1

Haryana

15500

35,000

2

Madhya Pradesh

14,000

35,000

3

Tamilnadu

9000

30000

4

Bihar

15000

30000

5

Punjab

14800

30,000

6

Kerala

10000

18500

7

Maharashtra

8340

18000

8

Uttar Pradesh

14500

16,000

9

West Bengal

8250

12000

10

Karnataka

6230

10000

11

Gujrat

7000

7000

12

Delhi

21000

6000

13

Orissa

7500

6000

14

Goa

9625

4600

15

Assam

6950

2500

16

Rajasthan

10500

2000

17

BHU

17000

1500

18

Andhra Pradesh

6400

1500

19

Jammu Kashmir

15400

1,200

20

JIPMER Pondicherry

18000

1000

3000 books, 6000 thesis

21

NIMHANS

17700

750

22

AIIMS

21800

250

2000 book, 5000 thesis

23

Chhattisgadh

11800

0

24

Jharkhand

NA*

NA

25

Himachal Pradesh

NA

NA

# Data compiled by MARD, confirmed by personal contact of the residents of the Individual states.

*NA – not available.


State/Institute wise comparison of stipend and tuition fee#

Institute/state

Stipend

Tution fees

Yearly Stipend

Fees to Stipend Ratio

Allowances

1

Tamilnadu

9000

30000

108000

0.277778

2

Madhya Pradesh

14,000

35,000

168000

0.208333

3

Haryana

15500

35,000

186000

0.188172

4

Maharashtra

8340

18000

100080

0.179856

5

Punjab

14800

30,000

177600

0.168919

6

Bihar

15000

30000

180000

0.166667

7

Kerala

10000

18500

120000

0.154167

8

Karnataka

6230

10000

74760

0.133761

9

West Bengal

8250

12000

99000

0.121212

10

Uttar Pradesh

14500

16,000

174000

0.091954

11

Gujrat

7000

7000

84000

0.083333

12

Orissa

7500

6000

90000

0.066667

13

Goa

9625

4600

115500

0.039827

14

Assam

6950

2500

83400

0.029976

15

Delhi

21000

6000

252000

0.02381

16

Andhra Pradesh

6400

1500

76800

0.019531

17

Rajasthan

10500

2000

126000

0.015873

18

BHU

17000

1500

204000

0.007353

19

Jammu Kashmir

15400

1,200

184800

0.006494

20

JIPMER Pondicherry

18000

1000

216000

0.00463

3000 books, 6000 thesis

21

NIMHANS

17700

750

212400

0.003531

22

AIIMS

21800

250

261600

0.000956

2000 book, 5000 thesis

23

Chhattisgadh

11800

0

141600

0

24

Jharkhand

NA*

NA

25

Himachal Pradesh

NA

NA

# Data compiled by MARD, confirmed by personal contact of the residents of the Individual states.

*NA – not available.

TargetPG on FaceBook