Medical fee hike from next academic year

Updated on: Thursday, March 03, 2011

The state government has clarified that its decision to hike fees for MBBS and other medical courses in government-run and aided colleges and hospitals will come into effect from the coming academic year 2011-12 and will not have an impact on the existing students.

On Tuesday, the government issued a government resolution (GR) formalising an over two-fold hike in the fees for undergraduate (UG) and post-graduate (PG) health science courses, including medical, dental and ayurveda studies. The move comes after the state cabinet had, earlier last month, cleared a proposal seeking a substantial increase in the fees for these courses.

Speaking to TOI on Wednesday, secretary to state department for medical education Milind Mhaiskar justified the move to hike fees for UG and PG health science courses “The government is spending upwards of Rs 5 lakh each year on each student. There has been no hike in the fees for the last 10 years. If we take into account the normal course of inflation, there is no way one could have avoided this hike,” he said.

The decision had drawn protests from student organisations like the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD). Unlike private unaided institutions where fees for health science courses are in the range of Rs 5 lakh per year and above, fees at government-run and aided institutions were Rs 18, 000 and less.

The government’s fee hike means that a medical degree course will now cost Rs 45, 000 a year, up by 150 per cent. While the tuition fees will be Rs 40, 000, Rs 5, 000 goes towards the development fund.

Fees for the dental course have gone up to Rs 33, 000 per year, while those for ayurveda, unani, physiotherapy and occupational therapy degree courses have increased to Rs 18, 000. Fees for bachelor in paramedical technology (BPMT) and diploma in medical lab technology (DMLT) stand revised at Rs 18, 000 per year while those for the nursing course are now Rs 6, 000.

The GR further provides for a 10 per cent hike every year in the revised fees with effect from academic year 2012-13 till such time a fresh fee revision exercise is undertaken. At the same time, some of the allied charges like admission fees and hostel fees also stand revised from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1, 500 (for first year admission only) and from Rs 2, 000 to Rs 4, 000, respectively.

Mhaiskar conceded that there were issues raised by a section of the stakeholders in medical education to the fee hike. He, however, said, “The government has every justification for the hike. Besides, almost 50 per cent students belonging to the reserved categories and the economically weaker sections do not pay fees.”

A senior official at the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), which is the affiliating university for all health sciences institutions in the state, said, “There are 18 government and municipal-corporation run medical colleges. Of these, the government medical colleges at Kolhapur, Akola and Latur are relatively new and the fees at these three colleges are Rs 45, 000 per year. As such, the hike comes as an attempt to equate the charge at all government-run colleges.”

Medical fee hike from next academic year

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