Private medical colleges hike fee, add new charges

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, July 19

With the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) becoming a hurdle in charging capitation fees, Punjab is seeing a high jump in tuition fee and the burden of some new expenses for the four-and-a-half year MBBS course in colleges affiliated with private medical varsities this time.

While there is no change in the fee structure in three government medical colleges and three private medical colleges affiliated with the state-run Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) this year, there is over 30 per cent increase in the fee for the MBBS course at Adesh Medical University’s college in Bathinda.

Besides increasing the tuition fee from Rs 48.84 lakh to Rs 63.93 lakh this time, Adesh Medical University has also fixed Rs 1.8 lakh as development charges to be paid by a MBBS student. For hostel charges, a student has to pay Rs 1,42,500 per year (excluding charges for food).

Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College, a constituent of the newly formed Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences, has introduced a special kind of registration fee (Rs 6.04 lakh). Every new MBBS student has to pay this fee at the time of admission in this SGPC-run college.

The tuition fee in three government medical colleges for the full MBBS course in the state is Rs 4.4 lakh. For government quota seats in three private medical colleges under BFUHS, this fee is Rs 13.43 lakh and Rs 40.29 lakh for the management quota seats.

The fee in both private medical universities’ colleges is allegedly in contravention of The Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions (regulation of admission, fixation of fee and making of reservation) Act.

According to Section 7 (I) of this Act, the government shall determine or cause to be determined the fee to be charged by private health sciences education institutions. Fee means a charge received by an institution from a student in any manner.

Even in Section 5 (viii) of Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences Ordinance, 2016, it has been clearly mentioned that the university will demand and collect fees and other charges as per the Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions Act, 2006.

For this reason, even as the statutes of Sri Guru Ram Das University were approved by the Department of Higher Education on July 17, the Department of Medical Education and Research, Punjab, is still indecisive about the Rs 6.04 lakh registration fee imposed by this university.

“We are waiting for the decision of the Department of Medical Education to announce the fee structure in Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College,” said Dr Raj Bahadur, VC, BFUHS.