Private Medical Colleges upset with NMC fee order

In the presence of all the heads of private, deemed and minority institutes, the latest NMC order that regulated the fee structure at private medical colleges would be discussed.

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.

Also Read: NMC says fee structure of 50 percent seats in private medical colleges will now be at par with govt ones

As per the latest media report by Bangalore Mirror, unhappy with this decision by NMC, the private medical colleges in the city have decided organize a meeting on February 11. Authorities including all the heads of private deemed and minority institutions would be present in the meeting and discuss this major change in the fee structure of the private institutes.

As per the earlier rules, the government previously had control only over the 40 per cent of seats as the fees for those seats were decided by the government. In that case, the management of those institutes were free to charge fee as per their own decision for the remaining 60 per cent of seats.

Speaking about the matter, M R Jayaram, the chairman of Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation told the daily, that his association was studying the order in detail.

The students, on the other hand, have heartily welcomed the move. While commenting on the matter, an MBBS aspirant said, "I have been preparing hard for the MBBS. However, if I don't get a seat in government quota, I may not be able to pursue medicine due to the hefty fee structure in management quota. This order, if implemented, can benefit hundreds of students like me. My brother who was also a medical aspirant had missed out on his medicine course as he could not pay the fee."

Also Read: NMC spells out criteria for fixing MBBS, PG medical fees at private medical college and deemed universities, Details

NMC, before fixing the fee structure in private medical colleges, had constituted an Expert Committee on 23^rd Nov, 2019. This committee recommended a total of 26 broad draft guidelines for the determination of fees for MBBS and Post Graduate (PG) Courses and other charges in respect of private medical colleges and deemed to be Universities, which were uploaded in the NMC Website on 25.05.2021 for inviting public comments. The Commission received approximately 1800 responses from General Public/Medical Institutions/ Association.

A re-constituted Expert Committee, constituted on 21.10.2021 by NMC, examined the 1800 responses and submitted the revised draft guidelines. The recommendations of this Expert Committee were accepted by the NMC in its meeting on 29th December, 2021.