Reduce Fees! Telangana PG medical, dental Aspirants Urge Govt
Private Medical College Fees
Hyderabad: Expressing their frustration with the exorbitant fee structure at the private medical and dental institutes across Telangana, the MBBS and dental graduates pursuing medical specialty and PG dental courses have urged the State Government to intervene.
They urged the State's intervention last Thursday to address the fee hike affected by private fee increase affected by private healthcare institutes on specialty medical and dental courses, Telangana Today has reported.
The students taking admission to medical and dental PG courses in the State under Category B management quota seats have to pay a fee ranging between Rs 13 lakh to Rs 24 lakh. Meanwhile, the students getting admitted to Category A quota medical and dental PG seats, a portion of which falls under the Convener quota, have to pay Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
However, in the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh, the fees for medical and dental PG courses under Category A and B are much lesser. While for the Category A seats, the fee ranges from Rs 3.41 lakh to Rs 4.9 crore, for the Category B management quota seats, it ranges from Rs 6.83 crore to Rs 9.93 crore.
As per the latest media report by Telangana Today, last week, the All India Dental Students and Surgeons Association wrote a letter to the Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha and urged the State Government to intervene to reduce the fee.
Commenting on the matter, the National President of All India Dental and Surgeons Association Dr Md Manzur Ahmed said, "Not all dental and medical students of Telangana State can afford such expensive medical seats in Category A and B. There is a need for the State government through the Health Minister to intervene on this issue and issue a Government Order that aligns fee structure for Category A and Category B seats with other neighboring States. This will ensure parity and reduce the financial stress in students while maintaining uniformity in medical education and fee across the region."
"Medical and dental students of Telangana State are under severe financial burden and difficulties due to fee hike for medical courses in private institutions. The State government must intervene on this issue," Dr. Manzur added.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that back in January, the dental and medical students aspiring for speciality PG seats in private institutes in Telangana had sought the State Government's intervention for the high fees for medical and dental courses at the private medical and dental institutes.
In this regard, the All India Dental Students and Surgeons Association had urged the State Government to repeal Government Order 107, which was released last year. Through this order, the annual tuition fee for dental and PG medical seats in private medical and dental institutes was increased.
Further, the Association also urged the State Government to mandate stipends for PG dental students in private dental colleges. In this regard, Dr. Manzur had argued that such a provision would significantly alleviate the financial burden on the students allowing them to focus on their education and professional development.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that by issuing the G.O. No. 107 dated July 28, 2023, the State fixed the fees for altogether 19 medical colleges, where the fees for the Category-A clinical seats ranged between Rs 7,00,000 to Rs 7,75,000. The fees for the Category-B seats ranged between Rs 23 lakh to Rs 24 lakhs.
In the case of the 11 private dental institutes, the fees for the Category-A seats ranged between Rs 5,15,000 and Rs 6,00,000, and in respect of the seats under Category-B, the fees ranged between Rs 8,00,000 and Rs 13,62,000.
However, altogether 222 PG medical and dental students challenged this order before the Telangana High Court, which had last year partially stayed the decision to increase the fees at private medical and dental colleges in the State.
Back then, the HC bench of Justice Chillakur Sumalatha asked the institutes to collect only 60 per cent of the fees specified in the Government Order No. 107 from the Category-A candidates and 70 per cent from the Category-B candidates.
