MoS Health Informs Parliament on Steps to Regulate Fees in Medical Colleges
New Delhi: Elaborating on the steps taken by the Government to regulate the fees in the medical colleges across the country, the Union Minister of State for Health Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar recently informed the Lok Sabha about the guidelines framed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), which were issued on 03.02.2022.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that back in 2022, the National Medical Commission issued a direction to all the private medical colleges in the country to charge fees at par with the government institutes for 50 per cent of the total seats.
Issuing an Office Memorandum in February 2022, NMC mentioned, "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."
"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," the Commission had added. However, the validity of the NMC order is now being considered by the Supreme Court.
Recently Parliament member Shrimati Poonamben Maadam questioned the Minister of Health and Family Welfare whether the Government has taken/proposed to take any steps to regulate the fees in medical colleges in the country and she also sought the details of the number of medical colleges that have been established since 2014, and the details of total number of medical colleges across the country.
In response to these queries, MoS Health Dr. Pawar informed the Lok Sabha, "Clause (i) of Sub-section (1) of Section 10 of National Medical Commission Act, 2019 provides for framing of guidelines for determination of fees and all other charges in respect of fifty percent (50%) of seats in private medical institutions and deemed to be universities which are governed under the provisions of the Act. Accordingly, National Medical Commission has framed the guidelines and the same were issued on 03.02.2022."
Dr. Pawar further informed that the Government has increased the number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats. She added that there is an increase of 82% in Medical Colleges from 387 before 2014 to 706 as of now.
Providing the details of the number of medical colleges in different States/UTs, Dr. Pawar informed that for the academic year 2023-2024, States/UTs like Andaman & Nicobar Island, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim have 1 medical college each.
Apart from these, Andhra Pradesh has 37 medical colleges, Assam has 13 medical colleges, and Bihar has 21 such colleges. There are 14 medical colleges in Chhattisgarh, 10 institutes in Delhi, 40 medical colleges in Gujarat, 15 in Haryana, 8 medical colleges in Himachal Pradesh, 12 medical colleges in Jammu & Kashmir, 9 in Jharkhand, 70 medical colleges in Karnataka, 33 in Kerala, 27 in Madhya Pradesh, 68 in Maharashtra, 4 medical colleges in Manipur, 17 medical colleges in Odisha, 9 in Puducherry, 12 in Punjab, 35 medical colleges in Rajasthan, 74 medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, 56 medical colleges in Telangana, 2 in Tripura, 68 in Uttar Pradesh, 8 in Uttarakhand, and 35 medical colleges in West Bengal.
The State/UT-wise list of Government and Private Medical colleges in the Country for the Academic Year 2023-24
S.No. | Name of the State/UT | Total Colleges |
1 | Andaman & Nicorbar Island | 1 |
2 | Andhra Pradesh | 37 |
3 | Arunachal Pradesh | 1 |
4 | Assam | 13 |
5 | Bihar | 21 |
6 | Chandigarh | 1 |
7 | Chhattisgarh | 14 |
8 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 1 |
9 | Delhi | 10 |
10 | Goa | 1 |
11 | Gujarat | 40 |
12 | Haryana | 15 |
13 | Himachal Pradesh | 8 |
14 | Jammu & Kashmir | 12 |
15 | Jharkhand | 9 |
16 | Karnataka | 70 |
17 | Kerala | 33 |
18 | Madhya Pradesh | 27 |
19 | Maharashtra | 68 |
20 | Manipur | 4 |
21 | Meghalaya | 1 |
22 | Mizoram | 1 |
23 | Nagaland | 1 |
24 | Odisha | 17 |
25 | Puducherry | 9 |
26 | Punjab | 12 |
27 | Rajasthan | 35 |
28 | Sikkim | 1 |
29 | Tamil Nadu | 74 |
30 | Telangana | 56 |
31 | Tripura | 2 |
32 | Uttar Pradesh | 68 |
33 | Uttarakhand | 8 |
34 | West Bengal | 35 |
NMC Fee Order:
Medical Colleges had earlier reported about the NMC rule of government fees in 50 per cent of the private medical college seats. While such a move definitely brought relief to a section of medical aspirants who choose to leave India and move abroad for cheaper medical education, such a rule fails to take into consideration the plights of the private medical college managements who pay lakhs and crores of money to set up the infrastructure.
Pleas before High Courts:
NMC fee order met with opposition from the management of private medical colleges who had urged the Union Health Ministry for withdrawing the diktat. Since NMC did not withdraw the same, the order came to be challenged before the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
Previously, while considering similar pleas, the Kerala High Court had clarified that the concerned Fee order will not be applicable in Kerala. Similarly, the Madras High Court had asked NMC to reconsider its decision and issue fresh guidelines as necessary. In its order, the Madras HC expressed concern over the possibility of several seats going vacant because of the high fees in the other 50 percent seats in the self-financed institutes.
AHSI's Plea in Supreme Court:
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that AHSI had made a plea before the Supreme Court and challenged the NMC decision of charging Government fees in 50% of the seats in the private medical colleges.
The association had argued that the top court in various judgments had reiterated the fact that the method for fixing the fees, would be subject to considering various guidelines such as facilities available in the college, infrastructure, age of investment made, plans for expansion, etc.
Plea by NMC Seeking Transfer and Consolidation of All Fees:
Meanwhile, the Apex Medical Commission NMC had filed a plea before the Supreme Court seeking transfer and consolidation of pleas challenging the validity of the NMC fee order mandating government fees for 50 percent seats in private medical colleges.
NMC had urged the Apex Court bench to transfer all the similar challenges pending before different High Courts to a bench of Supreme Court or any other High Court.
Now, the Apex Court has granted the transfer petitions and directed the Registry to issue orders to the Registrar General of all the concerned High Courts to immediately transmit the record of the transferred writ petitions.
Therefore, the plea by AHSI along with all the transferred petitions shall now be considered by the Apex Court on 22nd March, 2024.
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