With DMER being silent on NMC Fee Order, Punjab MBBS aspirants in Dilemma
Faridkot: With no words from the State Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER) regarding the National Medical Commission (NMC) fee order, the medical aspirants in Punjab are left in a state of dilemma.
While the Office Memorandum of the Apex medical commission mentions charging Government fees in the 50 percent of Private medical college seats, the State DMER in the recent notification on August 22 has mentioned about 5 percent routine annual hike of fees. Further, the notice did not refer to the NMC fee order at all.
Addressing the issue, the Director of DMER, Dr. Avnish Kumar has informed Tribune India that the department has not yet taken any decision in this regard as various medical colleges and deemed-to-be universities have challenged the concerned NMC Office Memorandum.
The issue concerns the Office Memorandum issued by NMC back in February 2022. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in the order, the Apex medical body had clarified 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," the Commission had added.
While such a move definitely brought relief to a section of medical aspirants who choose to leave India and move abroad for cheaper medical education, such a rule fails to take into consideration the plights of the private medical college managements who pay lakhs and crores of money to set up the infrastructure.
Therefore, upset with the NMC order, the management of private medical colleges had urged the Union Health Ministry to direct NMC for withdrawing the diktat. The Apex medical body, however, did not withdraw its decision and consequently, a host of private medical colleges and deemed to be universities recently approached the Madras HC seeking relief. Similar pleas have been made before other High Courts and the Supreme Court as well.
Meanwhile, recently Punjab DMER announced the revised fee structure and notified about a 5% hike in the MBBS course fees for the 2022 session onwards. Therefore, as a result of the continuous hike, the fees for MBBS courses in the government medical colleges at Amritsar, Patiala, and Faridkot has now been increased to Rs 8.62 lakh for the full course. Back in 2020, this fee was Rs 7.82 lakh.
The fresh notification shows that the MBBS full course fee in the management quota seats of private medical colleges is now Rs 52.60 lakh instead of Rs 47.70 lakh in 2020. In case of the government quota seats, the MBBS fee has been increased from Rs 18.55 lakh in 2020 to Rs 20.45 lakh. With such an increase of fees, it will be difficult for the poor students in Punjab to pursue their dreams of becoming doctor.
While NMC fee order gave hope to the aspirants to pursue MBBS course by paying fees at par with Government medical colleges, the DMER in Punjab has not taken any decision in this regard.
Speaking about this, father of a MBBS aspirant told The Tribune, "We were expecting that 50 per cent of total seats in private colleges, which are known as government quota seats, will be offered to us at the fee of government medical colleges but in the notification, the fee of the government quota seats in private medical college is Rs 20.45 lakh against the fee of Rs 8.62 lakh in the government medical colleges."
Meanwhile, considering the plea challenging the NMC fee order, the Supreme Court has issued notice in the matter. Recently Kerala HC clarified that the concerned Fee order will not be applicable in Kerala. Recently, passing judgment in a similar plea, the Madras High Court Apex medical commission to reconsider its decision and issue fresh guidelines as necessary. In its order, the Madras HC expressed concern over the possibility of several seats going vacant because of the high fees in the other 50 percent seats in the self-financed institutes.
