Karnataka to Categorize Private Medical Colleges, Reduce MBBS Fees
Bengaluru: Taking note of the exorbitant fees charged by private medical colleges in the state, the Karnataka government is planning to regulate medical education fee in the state.
The confirmation regarding this has come from the announcement made by the Chief Minister and the Health Minister of the State.
In fact, the State Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar announced on Tuesday that already a new fee regulation committee has been formed for analyzing the private medical colleges in the state, categorize them and take a call on the amount a fee that can be collected, adds TOI.
Earlier, there was a possibility of hike in the MBBS and BDS fees in Karnataka. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that speculations were being made that the fees would be increased by 15% in the Government seats and 25% in the private seats.
However, bringing relief to the medical and dental aspirants, the State didn't increase the fees for this academic year. Meanwhile, the National Medical Commission (NMC) also fixed that the fees for 50 per cent of private medical colleges seats would be at par with the fees for the government medical colleges.
In continuation to this, now the State Government is taking initiative to regulate the medical education fees in the State.
As per the latest media report by the New Indian Express, during the budget session, the Basavaraj Bommai Government announced setting up of a new fee regulation committee for analyzing and categorizing of the private medical colleges in the State and take a call on the amount of fee that can be collected.
This fee regulation committee will categorize the private medical colleges into A, B,C, and D categories on the basis of their infrastructure and NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) assessment, number of staff, equipment, clinical exposure etc,
Minister Sudhakar further informed that this committee would make recommendations and on the basis of it, fees would be fixed. While there is already a Fee Regulatory Committee in the state, this new committee is being formed only to look into the medical education fees.
While commenting on this, Heath Minister Sudhakar told NIE, "The state government will take all possible measures to provide opportunities for poor children to enter medical colleges. The committee will recommend the fees particularly for private medical colleges."
Similar announcement was made by the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai as well, when he was speaking to media regarding the introduction of plans and policy changes for enabling students to study medicine in India instead of fleeing abroad.
Speaking to TOI, Bommai said, "Although the fees in government medical colleges are low, medical education in private colleges is an expensive affair. Both the state and Centre are looking at various options to reduce fees to ensure students stay in India rather than go abroad to attend medical courses."
Mentioning that issues related to fees in medical courses is decided by the Medical Council of India, the CM mentioned, "While fees in government colleges are low, it is increasing in the private sector. In some cases, students who score 90-95% are unable to clear NEET exams. Since management or NRI seat costs are exorbitant, these students opt for countries like Ukraine."
Further referring to the alternate ways to accommodate Ukraine returned medical students in India, he added, "Course material and the syllabus there are different from what is prescribed for students here so, on completing the course there, students have to clear exams."
