24.5% increase in MBBS fee proposed in private colleges

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 12

After increasing the MBBS fee in government medical colleges, the state government has now turned its attention towards private colleges. The proposal is to enhance the fee from Rs 10 lakh per annum to Rs 12 lakh from the 2020-21 session in private colleges.

The increase in fee has been proposed at a time when the second round of counselling has started.

As per a December 11 notice issued by the Director General-cum-Secretary (Medical Education and Research) Amneet P Kumar, the tuition fee, including development charges, will be Rs 12 lakh per annum with an annual increase of 7.5 per cent. This means a student will have to shell out Rs 53.68 lakh for a four-year course.

Earlier, the yearly fee in private colleges was Rs 10 lakh with an annual increase of 5 per cent, which amounted to Rs 43.10 lakh for four years.

If the proposal is accepted, the fee in private colleges will rise by 24.5 per cent.

There has been no change in refundable college security, which is Rs 2 lakh, and hostel fee, which cannot increase beyond Rs 75,000 per year. Also, library fee, sports and medical charges, and internet charges remain unchanged.

Once it gets notified, the new fee structure will remain in force for three years. But before that, the state government has invited suggestions or comments on the proposed fee structure within a week.

On November 6, the Department of Medical Education and Research had notified the enhanced fee structure for MBBS course in government medical colleges. As a result, the yearly fee has increased to Rs 80,000 with 10 per cent rise every year. This comes to Rs 3.71 lakh for the entire course.

The state has four private, five government and one government-aided colleges.

Secretary (Medical Education and Research Kumar could not be contacted in spite of repeated attempts.

An official of the University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, said: "About 50 per cent of seats remained vacant in the first counselling."

A state government official suspected that students were opting for other states because of hefty fee in Haryana.

The registration for the second round of counselling started on December 12; seats will be allocated on December 16.

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