Private Medical Colleges Across the Country Hike Tuition Fees, Medical Education Becomes a Distant Dream

Most of the private medical colleges across the country hiked the tuition fees substantially while the cost of medical education at government colleges remained same. Tamil Nadu stands in the first place where medical education has become costly and became a distant dream for most of the medical aspirants. The tuition fee at SRM Medical College is Rs. 21 lakh per annum. The total cost for the four and half year MBBS course is Rs. 94.5 lakh. Last year, it was only Rs. 10 lakh per annum.

Similarly, Katihar Medical College, Bihar has been charging Rs. 12.5 lakh per annum. On the other hand,Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi has hiked the tuition fee for management quota from Rs. 15 lakh to Rs. 18 lakh.

However, the cost of medical education at government medical colleges remained same. In Rajasthan, the fee for entire medicine course is Rs. 9,000. In Punjab it is Rs. 4.4 lakh. Most of the private medical colleges come under the purview of fee committees in each state which was constituted by Supreme Court of India. However, deemed universities rarely come under the influence of state government. Taking this as an advantage, most of the deemed universities have arbitrarily hiked the fee.

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For instance, the cost of medical education in Mumbai increases up to 3% every year. However, this year it has risen to 32% creating a burden on parents who aspire for medical education for their children. Most of the private medical colleges are charging around Rs. 16.5 lakh per annum.

According to the reports, medical education in private colleges has become an expensive affair in Tamil Nadu. The cost of medical education is cheap in Gujarat and Karnataka. On the other hand, most of the colleges are collecting capitation fee in cash over and above the hiked fee. For instance, most of the deemed universities in Maharashtra are charging Rs. 70-75 lakh. It is tough to estimate the actual cost of medical education in these institutes as capitation fee is also included.

Some of the parents also mentioned that there are no records for the capitation fee and the colleges neither issue any receipt nor register the payment. However, in the current scenario, medical education has become a costly affair in India. The medicine education for the aspiring doctors is becoming a distant dream.