NEW DELHI: Your MBBS course fee in a private medical college could be capped around Rs 8 lakh per year, if the the Union health ministry accepts a recommendation of the medical education regulator.
For postgraduate courses, the suggested maximum fee is up to 90% lower than what students pay at present. The cap would apply to 50% of the seats in private medical colleges that are centrally regulated. At present , they charge between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 1. 2 crore for MBBS and Rs 1-3 crore for MS and MD.
The Medical Council of India-Board of Governors (BoG) based its recommendations on an analysis of the fee structures in private medical colleges and the cost of studies at AIIMS, Delhi and the Armed Forced Medical College (AFMC) in Pune.
While the average cost of study for an MBBS student at AIIMS, Delhi is Rs 10 lakh per annum, it is Rs 6 lakh a year at AFMC. MBBS students in government medical colleges, however, pay less than Rs 5 lakh for the full duration of the course in most government colleges, as it is highly subsidised by Central and state governments.
“We found that the cost of study should never really exceed Rs 10 lakh,” a senior BoG official told this newspaper.
Experts, however, had a different take. “If MBBS fee for half the seats in private colleges is fixed around Rs 48 lakh, it will still be extremely unaffordable for a large number of students and defeat the purpose of regulating the sector,” said Dr Sanjay Nagral, a senior member of the Association of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare.
Anant Bhan, researcher in global health and bioethics, said: “elements of equity and merit should also be considered so that students from rural areas and not-so-well-to-do families also reach private medical colleges.”