Ahmedabad: Medical education has always been expensive, and costs are rising like an untamable fever because shadowy agents use dummy candidates to block seats and sell them to the highest bidders. More than 700 students who had secured medical seats in Gujarat did not confirm their admissions after the second round of counselling held recently.Several genuinely could not afford the annual fees that range from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.Agents prey on these vacant seats, according to officials tracking medical admissions. The officials said a network of agents promises management-quota seats for commissions between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh.The officials said the agents manipulate merit by blocking seats and potentially keeping them out of reach of eligible candidates. The less meritorious students are given these seats for hefty fees.In one instance, an Ahmedabad-based agent allegedly quoted Rs 1.4 crore for a confirmed management-quota admission at a medical college in central Gujarat. “The management-quota fee at this college is Rs 23 lakh per annum and the total fee for the five-year course comes to Rs 1.15 crore,” said a source familiar with the case. “The remaining Rs 25 lakh is the agent’s charge.”A TOI reporter posing as a student with a low score (232 out of 720) contacted an intermediary agent operating from an office in Satellite. The agent quoted Rs 1.4 crore for the management-quota seat.The agent said that even if a lower-fee seat becomes available, his fee would remain unchanged. “I facilitated at least 100 medical admissions last year,” the agent said.A source familiar with the alleged malpractice explained how the arrangement works. “Agents seek Rs 5 lakh in advance. They take the candidate’s NEET scorecard, login ID, and password and fill in the admission form themselves,” the source said. “Some agents are known to submit 200-400 dummy applications of MBBS aspirants who do not wish to take admission in the current year due to high fees or their desire to retake NEET.”The source said agents manipulate merit by having dummy students stake claims on seats and later not take admission.“A reshuffle of seats happens in such cases, and a candidate with a poor score gets a chance to take admission on a management-quota seat,” the source said.Sources alleged that many students whose credentials are used by agents are unaware that seats have been claimed in their names during counselling. But even if some students know they are part of the alleged malpractice, they generally aren’t paid any incentive, since their role is limited to temporarily occupying seats.Sources in the medical admission committee said they have been told of such malpractices, but no formal complaint has been made.National Medical Commission officials could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts.
