VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has taken a major step toward ensuring transparency in medical education examinations with the inauguration of a Remote Command Control Center at NTR University of Health Sciences.
Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav formally launched the facility, which is designed to monitor the conduct of undergraduate and postgraduate medical exams across 37 government and private medical colleges in the State.
The new system connects exam halls directly to the university through CCTV cameras, allowing real-time surveillance of students during examinations. Every movement inside the halls is recorded and stored on computers at the command center, a measure that officials believe will prevent malpractice and copying.
Nearly 60,000 students appear for annual and supplementary exams across various courses each year. Monitoring has already begun in five medical colleges, with plans to expand to all institutions.
The system will cover MBBS, postgraduate, dental, Ayurveda, homeopathy, nursing, and other allied courses. The minister noted that the center adds an extra layer of accountability to the existing system, making exam administrators more alert and reducing wastage of human resources.
The center is equipped with a video wall of six large screens and ten computers, operated by trained staff. On average, each medical college has 25 CCTV cameras installed in exam halls. The recordings are stored for up to 70 days using advanced technology to prevent data corruption. Artificial Intelligence has been integrated to alert the center if any camera malfunctions, and even in cases of internet disruption, the system ensures that footage is captured and transmitted once connectivity is restored. Unlike earlier practices, colleges no longer need to send CCTV hard disks of to university after exams.
The project is being managed by Origo Biz Solutions, with software support from Duranq Technologies. The setup cost is estimated at Rs 30 lakh, while maintenance over two years will require around Rs 1.5 crore.
University Vice-Chancellor Chandrasekhar and Registrar Radhika Reddy confirmed that all examinations conducted under the university will eventually be monitored through this command center.