TN Private Medical Colleges Warned Against Charging Internship Fees
Tamil Nadu- Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian recently stated that private medical colleges should not charge any fee while providing internship to students. He warned that legal action will be taken through the Fee Fixation Committee (FFC) if any college is found violating this rule.
The Minister made this statement in response to a calling attention motion in the Assembly, where MLAs raised concerns about private colleges charging students—especially those admitted under the 7.5% government quota—for internships.
AIADMK's C. Vijayabhaskar, VCK's S.S. Balaji and Panruti MLA T. Velmurugan, among others, moved a calling attention motion regarding the fees charged by students admitted under the 7.5% government quota to undergraduate medical programmes. They highlighted various challenges faced by students at the hands of some private medical colleges. They also said that some private medical colleges were charging fees from students for offering internships.
On this, Ma Subramanian responded and cited the provisions of the National Medical Commission (NMC) (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations, 2021 and said that colleges will have to pay a stipend to students doing an internship.
According to The Hindu Media news report, the minister in his reply said that if there is any complaint regarding charging of any fee by the private medical college for giving stipend, they can submit it to the fee fixation committee and action will be initiated against the medical colleges.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that amid the concerns over ghost faculty and stipend irregularities at private medical colleges in Telangana, the Telangana Health Minister, Damodar Rajanarsimha, warned the institutes. The medical colleges have been told to regularly pay the stipends to the medical students
Apart from this, the Minister also stressed the implementation of the Clinical Establishment Act in all medical colleges and warned of taking strict action against those colleges that fail to comply with the quality standards of medical education. He also clarfied that the harassment of students for additional fees will also viewed strictly.
