No increase in MBBS, BDS fees in Karnataka

The confirmation regarding this has come from the department of medical education after it has forwarded the fee structure for the current academic year to the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) which has now been published on its official website.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported about the possibility of a hike in the fees for MBBS and BDS courses in the medical colleges of Karnataka. According to the reports, speculations were there that the fees would be increased by 15% in the Government seats and 25% in the private seats.

Citing huge loss during the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason, the private medical colleges in Karnataka were considering increasing their fees by at least twenty percent.

Apart from financial loss due to COVID, the colleges had also pointed towards the establishment of oxygen plants, stoppage of non-COVID treatment during the peak of the pandemic as the reasons for increasing the fees.

In order to arrive at a decision regarding the fee hike, a meeting was scheduled between Medical Education minister and the private medical college representatives on October 21, 2021. However, it had to be cancelled as the minister was busy with prior commitments.

It was 2019 when the UG medical fees in the State medical colleges were increased for the last time. Now, the students need to pay Rs 1.4 lakh per year for the Government quota seats in private medical colleges and Rs 59,850 in a government college.

However, after the fee revision back in 2019, the pandemic struck the country and the colleges were almost shut for non-COVID admissions, which ultimately resulted in the loss of income for the medical colleges and made it allegedly hard for the management to run the colleges.

Also Read: Karnataka Private Medical Colleges seek 20 percent MBBS fee hike, Govt to take decision

As per the latest media report by Deccan Herald, even though the Private medical colleges were demanding a hike in the MBBS, BDS fees, the Karnataka Government has been successful in convincing the management to not increase the fees and stick to the older fee structure.

The daily adds that the fees for MBBS course in government medical colleges and government quota seats in Private medical colleges will remain the same for this year as well. Besides, the fee for dental courses would be Rs 83,356 per year in the government quota seats of private dental colleges.

Already, the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has initiated the first round of counselling for medical, dental and Ayush courses through UG-NEET 2021 from 29th January. The counselling process will continue till February 7, 2021.