Twenty euros. That's the amount someone allegedly paid to "buy" medicine and dentistry tests on Telegram. A group created on the messaging app allegedly provided aspiring doctors and suspected scammers with a "tip-off on the questions" for just a few dozen euros. A preparation course that allowed them to learn the test questions in advance was more expensive.
There are those who allegedly paid thousands of euros to enroll. The irregularities are reported in a complaint filed with the prosecutor's office and in an appeal to the TAR against the rankings that would be, according to the appellants, "false". The Palermo law firm "Leone - Fell & C." presented it, according to which it would be the "biggest scandal that has ever hit the restricted number system". But these are just two of the alleged incorrect expedients used to try to pass the test, in the first edition of the Tolc, the new method of access to the faculty of medicine that included two sessions: one in April and another in July.
A system that, therefore, would have allowed – according to the complaint – to create an enormous database with the repetition of some questions. Lawyers Francesco Leone and Simona Fell speak of “inadequacy of controls by Cisia”, the consortium that manages the entrance exams. “A rapid and thorough response from the Ministry of Universities is urgent”.
This was stated by M5S Senator Dolores Bevilacqua, who filed a question addressed to Minister Anna Maria Bernini. The member of the Five Star Movement expects "an in-depth response to understand what measures have been taken to ensure the correctness of the tests, both for those already taken and for those to be taken in the future". In the meantime, the MUR has made it known, in a note, that it will ask Cisia for "further reassurances and clarifications on the regular conduct of the entrance tests".
The issue of the restricted number of places that prevents free access to medical school has been at the center of political debate for some time. Only a few days ago, the governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, had defined the quiz as "at the level of the Camorra". The Regional Council of Campania has therefore launched the draft of the bill to abolish the restricted number of places for health professions. The proposal was discussed today at the Conference of the Regions and it was decided that an in-depth study will be carried out. "Hundreds of millions are being spent in a purely business operation", Governor De Luca had highlighted. He, he said, "have received dozens of letters of support from boys or girls and fathers of families".
