West Bengal University of Health Sciences has introduced new measures for conducting MBBS exams in medical colleges in the state. As per the standard operating procedures (SOPs) introduced under the guidance of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also serves as the state’s health minister, all MBBS exams will now be conducted under CCTV surveillance and will be streamed live for additional surveillance.

In order to maintain the integrity of the exam, student names will no longer be displayed on the answer sheets, but barcodes will be used for identification. Seating arrangements will also follow a rotating odd-even numbering pattern to discourage cheating among students.

To increase transparency in MBBS exams, West Bengal University of Health Sciences has made it mandatory for daily CCTV footage of exam sessions to be recorded and sent to the university in a separate folder, with the condition that the footage is retained for at least one year. reported.

These measures are in line with the demands of junior doctors who advocated for stricter examination protocols after a recent tragic incident at a hospital where a female doctor was allegedly attacked and killed on August 9. Following this, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee decided to implement an SOP to prevent this situation. Exam malpractices respond to junior doctors’ call for reform.

The list of ten demands highlighted concerns over unqualified students obtaining MBBS certificates despite irregular attendance; they believe this undermines the standards of the profession. “We hope these changes will also lead to improvements in medical services,” said a junior doctor who participated in the recent protests.

As per Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s directives, MBBS exams will now be monitored under CCTV surveillance and the entire exam process will be broadcast live.

Here are a few important points that stand out from the new measures:

• CCTV surveillance: All exam venues will be kept under constant CCTV surveillance and images of the entire exam day will be sent to the university in a separate folder. Images will be retained for review purposes for at least one year.
• Live broadcast: To further increase transparency, exams will be broadcast live, allowing officials to monitor proceedings in real time.
• Anonymised answer pages: Students’ answer sheets will be anonymized by using barcodes instead of names, making it difficult to track answers by individual.
• Seating arrangement with odd-even roll numbers: To prevent cheating, students will be required to sit in an odd-even seating arrangement.
• Advocacy of junior doctors: The decision comes after a series of protests by junior doctors demanding stricter measures to ensure transparency in the examination system. The protests were triggered following the death of a woman doctor and allegations of unqualified students getting MBBS degrees.

In addition, it aims to address concerns raised by junior doctors regarding malpractices, particularly allegations of unqualified students obtaining MBBS certificates despite not attending classes for several years.

(With inputs from PTI)