Private medical and dental colleges are placing a proposal before the State government to hike the government and institutional quota MBBS and BDS fee by 30% to 35% for the academic year of 2022-23. They are citing financial sufferings during the COVID-19 pandemic over the two years, as the main reason for seeking fee hike.
The government will be holding a meeting with private medical and dental college managements on August 22, Monday, on the issue of fee hike and seats sharing.
Consensual agreement
According to the consensual agreement between the government, and private medical and dental colleges, there is provision to hike the MBBS and BDS fee from 15% to 25% every year. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the government had not permitted a fee hike over the last two years. Therefore, they are now demanding a fee hike of up to 35%.
Despite an order by National Medical Council (NMC) that fee for 50% of seats in private medical colleges, deemed to be universities should be on a par with the fee in the government medical colleges of the particular state and union territory, it is yet to be implemented in the State.
The seat-sharing ratio between private and government seats is also to be discussed in the meeting proposed to be held on Monday.
Seat-sharing issues
In Karnataka, the medical seat ratio between government and private medical colleges and deemed-to-be universities so far has been 40:60, though this is not strictly followed by some who push more into the management category which go for high price.
According to the NMC order, all the private medical and dental colleges and deemed-to-be universities must reserve 50% of MBBS and BDS seats as a government quota seats. However, till now, the State government has not issued any order in this regard. All these issues will be addressed on the Monday’s meeting.
Dr. B.L. Sujatha Rathod, Director, Directorate of Medical Education, told The Hindu, “NEET-2022 result will be announced soon and the counselling will be started around the second week of the month of September. Last two years there was no fee hike. This year, private medical and dental colleges are placing some new demand. Therefore, we are holding a meeting on August 22. At the same time, we will also discuss the consensual agreement on the seat sharing.”
Pandemic impact
Dr. M.R. Jayaram, honorary secretary of Karnataka Private Medical and Dental Colleges Association, said, “The finances of medical college managements were hit during the pandemic. Many college managements also complained that due to the effect of the pandemic during the last two years they sold the NRI quota and management quota seats for lower prices compared to the previous years. We are requesting the State government to hike the fee of government and institutional quota MBBS and BDS seats significantly to tide over this crisis.”
