VIJAYAWADA: With the State government planning to establish 17 new government medical colleges in addition to the 11 existing ones, the National Medical Council (NMC) has given its nod for five new medical colleges in the State. However, the government orders issued pertaining to the fee structure in the new medical colleges have drawn flak from students, parents and educationalists.
According to the GO. 108, the fee structure in government medical colleges has been divided into three groups, 50 per cent for general seats, 35 per cent for self-financed seats, and 15 per cent for NRI seats. The corresponding fees for each category have been set at Rs 15,000, Rs 12,00,000, and Rs 20,00,000 respectively.
The parents and students have urged the government to restore the previous fee structure by reconsidering the GO and preserving benefits provided to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Backward Classes (BC), and other categories in the new medical colleges.
Speaking to TNIE, Dr MV Ramanaiah, President of the Praja Rogya Vedika (PAV), an NGO, who wrote a letter to Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed his concerns, and said, “This fee categorisation has the potential to erode the core essence of new government medical colleges, which have historically been instrumental in providing accessible and affordable education. The close resemblance to private college fee structure might inadvertently lead to a shift towards privatisation, contrary to the original intent of government-run institutions.”
Suluru Yachandra, State Secretary of ABVP Student Union, and his team took the matter directly to Governor Abdul Nazeer. He accused the government of excluding economically disadvantaged students from accessing quality medical education by issuing the GO. 107 and 108.
“Denying medical education to poor students contradicts the essence of government-run institutions,” Yachendra told TNIE. Dr Prasanth, State president of APJUDA, expressed his concerns by saying that notice for organising a strike has been given to the government over the controversial GO.
Speaking to TNIE, Dr Korukonda Babji, Vice Chancellor of Dr YSR University of Health Sciences said that he received some representation on the issue, and said that the decision was taken by the government and that there was no possibility of abolishing the GOs.