HYDERABAD: Online counselling for Post Graduate medical seats in Telangana is underway and medical seat dealers are busy punching numbers of PG seat aspirants and offering seats in private medical colleges, provided a good price is paid. Depending on the course, the seats are sold anywhere between `40 lakh and Rs 1.80 crore. The counselling process for PG Medical seats in state quota began from March 3rd week.
And it is not only current PG aspirants, even those who secured top ranks two to three years ago still get calls inquiring if they want seat in medical colleges. The choice is wide — ranging as the dealers assure to get them a seat in medical colleges located in any part of the country.
Besides calls, students are bombarded with messages which people from non-medical background would not be able to understand. One of the messages that an aspirant received reads ‘RADIO - 1.80, GEN SUR - 95, GYN - 1.65, PEDI - 1.65 IN AP/TS/TN’-which means General Surgery PG seat in Radiology costs Rs 1.80 crore for three-years, Rs 95 lakh for General Surgery seat, and Rs 1.65 crore for Gynecology seat..
“We are flooded with calls from dealers who ask us to come to their offices in Punjagutta, or Ameerpet to discuss the price for the seats. Though we ask them not to contact us, the calls do not end,” said a PG aspirant on condition of anonymity.
A PG Second year student, who scored 700th rank at State level in NEET-PG 2017, Dr G Phani Bhushan said though it has been over a year he has joined government medical college, he still gets calls.
Who leaks the phone numbers?
PG aspirants expressed concern over how their phone numbers get leaked to dealers. This year’s aspirants said almost all of their friends who are trying to get a PG seat got calls from dealers. “We give our phone numbers when we enrol in NEET-PG coaching centres. We suspect the numbers get leaked from there ,” said P Vijayender , president of Telangana Junior Doctors Association. The dealers clearly don’t know the ranks scored by aspirants as even those below 100 rank get calls for seats in private medical colleges.