Sources in PGI say the general scenario is the same every year as the number of students who apply is always more but those who actually appear are generally less in number.

However, this year, after the CBI nabbed dummy candidates from the examination centres, every candidate who appeared in the exam and even those who did not is under the scanner. For, neither the PGI authorities nor the CBI has so far been able to pinpoint the exact number of beneficiaries who could have been a part of the racket.

Says PGI’s official spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar, “Many times students apply for the exam but later do not turn up as many of them clear exams in medical colleges in their native states. Further, many apply at multiple institutions and choose between the institutes.”

Also, the PGIMER authorities claim that the dropout rate of the post-graduate students at PGIMER who are pursuing MD, DM OR MS courses in different departments is as less as only one per cent.

The students who get a seat after stiff competition manage to pass the course, though many of them do have to reappear and take supplementary exams, adds Wadwalkar.

“For instance, in the PG course, offered at the department of endocrinology, PGIMER, during the last 42 years, only two students were not awarded degrees. One of the doctors left the course midway because of personal reasons and the other left and joined a PG course in another discipline,” says the head of the department of endocrinology, PGIMER.

No new admit cards a drawback?