GMERS MBBS Fee Hike to be Withdrawn? Decision likely to be declared Today: Report

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Government will likely announce its decision on the fee hike for the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) colleges at the cabinet meeting today. 

Amid the demands to roll back the recent increase of up to 87% fees in the GMERS colleges, a discussion was held in this regard at a meeting in Gandhinagar on Monday, TOI has reported.

Five BJP MLAs, GMERS Officials, representatives from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Indian Medical Association (IMA), National Medicos Organization (NMO) and senior State Health Department officials attended the meeting. The outcome of the meeting will be presented at the Government cabinet meeting on Tuesday. 

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that GMERS had increased the MBBS annual fees across all its colleges in the State by up to 87 percent on June 28. The fees for the State and all-India quota seats were increased from 3.3 lakh per annum to Rs 5.5 lakh per annum- around 66 percent.

This decision sparked controversies and was criticised by the students and the members of the medical fraternities. Opposing the decision of fee hike, recently, IMA wrote to the Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel demanding a rollback.

IMA State Chapter referred to the discontent among the students and their parents because of the fee increase and requested the Government to retract the fee increase in the interest of the less-affluent sections. 

Meanwhile, the National Student Union of India (NSUI) also staged a demonstration at Gotri Medical College in Vadodara, protesting against the substantial increase in the MBBS fees at the GMERS colleges across the State. During the protest 10 members of the association were arrested.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, amid these protests and demands for a rollback, a discussion was held at a meeting in Gandhinagar on Monday. GMERS officials justified the decision of increasing the fees with financial statements from the 13 medical colleges, showing annual fees for the open category increased from Rs 2.5 lakh in 2011 to Rs 5.5. lakh after adjustments.

Also Read: Whooping Upto 87 percent MBBS fee hike in GMERS Medical Colleges

On the other hand, the representatives of ABVP, IMA, and NMO, who were also present in the meeting, opposed the fee hike referring to the fact that the GMERS colleges receive state funding. They proposed government allocation of Rs 18-20 crore per college to ease the burden on the students and the parents. They also pointed out that in the medical colleges in other States, fees are equivalent to the government rates on 50% of their seats.

Ahmedabad Mirror has reported that the NMO and ABVP officials along with the parents had raised concerns regarding the fee hike. The parents of the medical students submitted that they have to plan for paying the fees in advance. Therefore, the decision for a fee hike only days before the commencement of the course put them in a difficult situation to arrange the fees.

Some parents had even started to prepare to file a plea before the High Court demanding the cancellation of the medical society itself, reported the Daily.

Also Read: NSUI Members Arrested During Protest Against Fee Hike at Gotri Medical College