10 percent MBBS Fee hike in Karnataka Private Medical Colleges

Bangalore: MBBS education in Karnataka has become costlier as the State Government has announced a 10 per cent increase in the undergraduate medical course fees at private colleges for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The fees for the private medical seats in the State have been increased from Rs 9,94,906, charged during the previous academic year to Rs 11,88,161 for this academic year.

Last year, the fees for the government quota medical seats were Rs 1,28,746. However, as per the new agreement, the fees for the government quota seats in private medical colleges has been increased to Rs 1,40,621.

The State Government took this decision during a meeting with private medical college management on August 17, 2024. This meeting was held to address the rising operational costs faced by private medical institutes.

Also Read: No MBBS fee hike in Karnataka for 2024-25 academic year

Although the representatives of the private medical colleges had originally requested a hike of MBBS fees of 15 to 20 percent, the State Government agreed to a 10 percent increase of MBBS fees to balance the demands with affordability concerns, the Times of India has reported.

This 10 % fee hike is significant because the fees for the government medical colleges remain unchanged i.e. Rs 50,000 per year. It also contrasts the last year's decision when the Government had only allowed a fee increase of 10 percent for the minority medical colleges and decided not to hike the fees for the other institutes.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Karnataka Government had decided not to increase the MBBS fees for the academic year 2024-2025. It was decided that the MBBS fee would continue to be Rs 50,000 per year in government medical colleges and Ras 1,28,746 per year for the government quota seats in private medical colleges for the academic year 2024-2025.

Meanwhile, TOI has reported that the Minister for Medical Education, Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil initially opposed the decision to increase the fee. However, he finally agreed after the private medical college management cited the increased costs in maintenance, staff salaries, and other expenses.

The State has decided to increase the fee as a measure to help the private medical colleges deal with their financial crisis. However, the government medical college MBBS fees remains the same since the academic year 2021-2022.

Apart from the fee hike, the issue of seat sharing between the government and private medical colleges still remain unsolved. Private medical institutes appealed to the High Court against a recent ruling as per which they were directed to allocate the NRI seats to the government, delaying any decisions on this until the Court's decision was finalised.

For the past three years, the Karnataka Private Medical and Dental Colleges Associated has highlighted their concerns regarding financial difficulties due to stagnant medical dees for more than three years. They argued that even though there is a provision to increase the fees annual, it has not been utilised fully.

While the State has increased the fees to address this issue, it is anticipated that there will be further discussions and decisions as the government reviews the broader implications for medical education.

Also Read: After backlash, Gujarat govt partially rolls back MBBS fee hike in GMERS medical colleges