BANGLADESH

The first-ever combined medical and dental admission test was held on Friday amid tension and strict invigilation.

Head of the health directorate, Khondaker Mohammad Shefyetullah told that they had heaved 'a sigh of relief' after the 'peaceful' completion of the one-hour multiple-choice-question (MCQ) examination at 11am in 19 centres across Bangladesh.

Tension ran high overnight as intelligence had arrested 20 people including medical students, a teacher of Jahangirnagar University and a doctor of Dhaka Dental College Hospital for taking money with the promise to supply question papers.

"They (intelligence) found a question paper from the racket. We checked it with the original one in the morning and became certain that it was fake," the director general said.

"But we suggested punishment of the racket," he said.

Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque visited several centres in Dhaka and told journalists afterwards that they would ensure punishment to those involved in the racket.

He also ruled out the possibility that questions might have leaked out.

Earlier, the test was deferred by a week from Sep 23 due to the arrest of a staff of the government press as he came out of his office premises with concealed question papers on Sep 13. Two other people were arrested in that case.

According to the director general, the arrest led to unprecedented security measures.

The health directorate's director general, Shefyetullah said, "We have printed new question papers." Intelligence agencies were also on alert before the exams, he said.

At least 101 health ministry officials including the minister, secretary and Shefyetullah went around the examination centres on Friday.

Some 51,236 candidates are competing for 2,760 seats in government medical colleges and 280 seats in dental colleges. Besides private medical colleges have 3,663 seats while dental colleges 765.

This was the first time that the health directorate collected admission forms online.

Shefyetullah hoped to publish the results online within four days.

"The admission will be completed based on their position and choice of institutions."

Twenty people, including a university teacher, a doctor, two bankers and several students, have been arrested for selling fake question papers of the first combined medical and dental admission test, RAB say.

They were arrested in an overnight drive conducted by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) before the test was held in the morning on Friday.

RAB-2 officer Saiful Karim told bdnews24.com that Tk 826,000 was recovered from the detainees, including a teacher of Jahangirnagar University, a doctor of Dhaka Dental College and Hospital.

He said the question papers they sold did not match with the original ones.

"The racket made money by selling fake questions papers," he said.

Those arrested are bankers Jewel Ahmed and Ashraful Alam, businessmen Tariqul Islam, Jasimuddin, Nurunnabi Tej, Tanvir Ahmed Siddique, Shahidul Islam Sujon, Motahar Hossain, Habibur Rahman, JU teacher Firozul Hasan, college teacher Anisul Islam, lecturer Aminul Islam, Dental College physician Monjur Alam, manager of a hospital Manosh Dev, Dhaka University student 'Emil', medical student Shahiduzzaman Shahed, students Touhidul Islam, Tajmul Parvez, 'Liyon' and one Touhidul Islam Raju.

RAB's legal and media wing director Mohammad Sohail told reporters at the RAB-2 headquarters that all of them were arrested from city's various coaching centres while trying to sell the question papers.

Apart from the cash, Sohail said RAB also seized 29 cell phones and three motorcycles from their possession. The money was taken as advance from the buyers.

"Some of them collected the fake question papers while the rest were trying to sell them," he said.

As some of the detainees claimed they were innocent, Sohail said, "If innocent, they will be freed."

Meanwhile, the first-ever combined medical and dental admission test on Friday was held amid tension and strict invigilation.

Meanwhile, head of the health directorate Khondaker Mohammad Shefyetullah earlier told bdnews24.com that they had heaved 'a sigh of relief' after the 'peaceful' completion of the one-hour test consisting of multiple-choice questions (MCQ) at 19 centres across Bangladesh. The examination began at 11am.

"They (intelligence) recovered a question paper from the arrested people. We matched it with the original one in the morning and were sure that it was a fake one," the director general said.

Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque visited several centres in Dhaka and told journalists afterwards that they would ensure punishment to those involved in the fraud.

He also ruled out the possibility that questions could have been leaked out.

Earlier, the test was deferred by a week from Sep 23 due to the arrest of a staff of the government press, as he came out of his office premises with concealed question papers on Sep 13. Two other people were also arrested in connection with the incident.

At least 101 health ministry officials including the minister, secretary and Shefyetullah went around the examination centres on Friday.

Some 51,236 candidates are competing for 2,760 seats of the government medical colleges and 280 seats in the dental colleges. Besides, private medical colleges have 3,663 seats, and the dental colleges have 765.

This was also the first time that the health directorate collected admission forms online.

Shefyetullah hoped to publish the results online within four days.

"The admissions will be finalized based on their position and choice of institutions."