Charge MBBS fee on par with GMCs for 50 percent seats: Govt directs private medical colleges

Chennai: With an aim to implement the National Medical Commission (NMC) order, the State Health Department in Tamil Nadu has recently requested all the private medical colleges and deemed universities for charging fees in 50 % of the total seats on par with government medical colleges fees.

In fact, the State Health Department has already written to the Fee Fixation Committee in this regard, confirmed the State Health Secretary P Senthil Kumar.

If NMC fee order gets implemented in Tamil Nadu, the private medical colleges will be liable to charge Rs 13,610 per year for the 50% of the seats instead of Rs 25 lakh which they used to charge earlier. This includes the tuition fee of Rs 4,000. 

For the remaining seats, the fee fixation committee will fix the fees for the upcoming academic year.

In Tamil Nadu, there are a total number of 70 medical colleges with an intake capacity of 10725 seats. Among these 5225 medical seats are in 38 government medical colleges and 5550 medical seats are in 32 private medical colleges.

In all those medical colleges, the fee varies and it ranges between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per year. Therefore, in order to pursue medical education in private medical institutes, the students might need to pay a total amount ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.25 crores. On the other hand, the government medical colleges provide education at a minimal fees ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh on yearly basis.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NMC, the apex medical education regulatory body had clarified recently that the fees of 50 per cent seats in the private medical colleges would be at par with government medical colleges of that particular State/UT.

"After extensive consultations, it has been decided that the fee of the 50 per cent seats in the private medical colleges and deemed universities should be at par with the fee in the government medical colleges of that particular State and UT. The benefit of this fee structure would be first made available to those candidates who have availed government quota seats, but are limited to the extent of 50 per cent of the total sanctioned strength of the respective medical college/deemed university," NMC had mentioned in the notification.

"However, if the government quota seats are less than 50 per cent of total sanctioned seats, the remaining candidates would avail the benefit of a fee equivalent to the government medical college fees, based purely on the merit," it added.

So, if the NMC rule gets implemented for the 50 per cent of private medical college seats, the students getting admission in those 50 percent seats will be liable to pay such a minimal amount on their education.

However, no matter how promising this sounds to the medical aspirants, who choose to leave India and move abroad for cheaper medical education, such a rule fails to take into consideration the plights if the private medical college managements who pay lakhs and crores of money to set up the infrastructure.

Therefore, upset with the NMC order, the management of private medical colleges had earlier approached the Union Health Ministry seeking directions upon NMC to withdraw the diktat. In fact, the colleges had expressed their decision of moving to the court as well, challenging the NMC fee order.

Amidst all this confusion, the Tamil Nadu Government has now taken a step towards implementation of the NMC order. As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the government has already issued directions to the self financing medical colleges in the State to charge fees on par with government medical colleges for the 50% of the seats. In fact, State Health Department has already written to the Fee Fixation Committee in this regard.

Referring to this, State Health Secretary P Senthil told the daily, "The colleges said they have moved court but, in the meanwhile, we have sent a letter to the fee fixation committee."

Some of the parents have praised the NMC order as they hold it to be in accordance with the spirit of NEET, which prioritizes merit. Referring to this, the parent of a medical aspirant told TOI, "Students with high scores will have seats at a cost they can afford in colleges of their choice. Colleges across the state too will have a good number of meritorious students."

Similarly, a coach and counsellor for medical aspirants pointed out that "Besides offering seats on a par with government colleges, the fee for the remaining seats will be fixed by a committee and not by an ad hoc university committee."

On the other hand, the colleges are not so much happy with the NMC order. Speaking about this, one of the senior administrators of a newly opened medical college told the daily, "NMC demands on infrastructure and human resources are expensive. Tuition fee is one of the important sources of income for teaching hospitals. If they cut down on fees, it will affect quality."

The Fee Fixation Committee has the responsibility to decide the fees for the students getting enrolled under the government, management, and NRI quotas and lapsed NRI seats. Until now, admissions to the deemed universities were on the basis of merit and the seats were allotted by the Directorate-General of Health Services. On the other hand, admission in the private medical colleges is done by the State Selection Committee.

Also Read: Fee structure of 50 per cent seats in private medical institutions will now be at par with govt institutions : NMC