Tighter Surveillance for Medical Education Exams

To enhance transparency and curb malpractices in medical education examinations, the State government has introduced advanced surveillance technology. State Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav on Thursday inaugurated a Remote Command Control Centre at Dr NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) in Vijayawada.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that medical examinations can now be monitored directly from the university headquarters. He stated that UG and PG annual and supplementary medical examinations conducted across 37 government and private medical colleges in the State have been connected to the control centre through CCTV surveillance , leaving no scope for copying or other malpractices.

Footage stored for 70 days

Under the new system, every movement of students during examinations will be recorded and stored on computers in the command control room. The recorded footage will be preserved securely for up to 70 days , using state-of-the-art technology, the Minister said.

The surveillance system has already been implemented in five medical colleges , and will soon be extended to MBBS, dental, Ayurveda, homoeopathy and nursing examinations across all institutions. With nearly 60,000 students appearing for various examinations annually, the system is expected to reduce manpower requirements and ensure greater accountability among examination staff.

Real-time monitoring through control centre

Explaining the technical features, the Minister said that an average of 25 CCTV cameras have been installed in each college and are monitored through a six-screen video wall at the university control room. Any camera malfunction or internet disruption will be instantly flagged through Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based alerts .

Unlike earlier practices, colleges will no longer be required to send hard disks to the university after examinations, as the entire process will be monitored in real time , he added.

University officials said the centre was established at a cost of ₹30 lakh , with ₹1.5 crore allocated for its operation over two years. Vice-Chancellor Dr Chandrasekhar , Registrar Radhika Reddy , and other officials were present at the event.