Hoax callers harass medical students with seat lure

Mumbai: Medical students in the city are receiving hoax calls and messages offering them seats in Indian and foreign universities on the basis of donation and not merit. “Book your seat in the MD/MS Diploma in PG Medical courses directly in affordable packages,” the messages read.

 According to sources, these donation packages go up as high as Rs 50 lakh. The messages claim that by paying the amount, the student will get a seat in a private medical college without scoring merit range marks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) PG examination, which is an entrance exam for the medical students.

Officials from the medical education department have warned students to stay away from such messages as they could be “hoax calls.” According to the guidelines formed by the Central Board of Secondary Education, which conducts the NEET examination, student can get their seat only through NEET and it is purely on merit. This year's NEET PG was conducted on January 7, after which the students started receiving these calls and messages.

When this newspaper contacted some of the students who had received such calls, they demanded action against such institutes who are going against the CBSE guidelines and granting seats on financial terms.

“I have been receiving messages and calls offering me a medical seat. All my friends have also been receiving similar messages. When we asked our colleges, we learnt that this kind of system is absolutely illegal,” said Sunisha Pillai, a student.

The NEET UG students too received simi,milar hoax calls and messages last year in June.