NEW DELHI: Private medical and dental colleges across the country have been asked to charge fee for only the first year from students at the time of admission.
In a recent directive issued to private colleges offering MBBS and BDS courses, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said these institutions have no right to demand from the students a bank guarantee equivalent to four years, in addition to fee for one year, just as the students enrol themselves for the programmes.
“We have received a large number of complaints regarding this and were also told that this has become a norm for many institutions in the last few years,” a senior official in the medical education division of the ministry said.
This year, during admission in many private medical dental colleges, students had written to the government informing that managements are insisting on bank guarantee on stamp paper for four years —second year onwards —failing which they were being refused admission.
“In fact because of this, majority of seats in the first three rounds of counselling in a medical college in Karnataka were also left vacant, so we had to intervene,” the official added.
Medical education reform a good news for students
Similarly, a case of forcibly charging the entire course fee from students who decided to drop in a dental college in Uttar Pradesh was also brought to the ministry’s notice.
The development comes at a time when the government has decided that tuition fee for half the MBBS seats in private medical colleges will be regulated by medical education regulator starting next year.
The provision is part of the National Medical Commission Act and as the Centre has fast-tracked the setting up of the National Medical Commission it has asked the Medical Council of India-Board of Governors to recommend fee for 50 per cent seats in private medical colleges that can act as base for the NMC.