NEW DELHI: Concerns over exorbitant fees in private medical colleges across the country have prompted the government to consider bringing in a regulatory mechanism. It has asked the Board of Governors (BoG) regulating medical education in India to come up with measures to regulate the fee structures. Officials in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the issue was raised after the Centre received a number of complaints about private colleges charging over `1 crore for the MBBS course.
“We have asked the BoG to look into the matter urgently and devise ways to regulate the fee structure,” a senior official in the medical education division of the health ministry said.The BoG, under Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul, had replaced the Medical Council of India in September after the government scrapped it through an ordinance.
“The MCI was often asked to recommend ways to increase seats in medical colleges that could have ended up lowering fee charged per student, but nothing came out of it,” said the official. Now, the BoG has been tasked with holding consultations with various stakeholders and find ways to do the same.
Public health experts have criticized the government over the “unabashed sale” of MBBS seats in a country that is crippled with acute shortage of doctors.
Gurinder S Grewal of Association of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare said, “When we talk about malpractices in healthcare, we also have to keep in mind that if one has to shell out such humongous amounts to become a doctor, what ethics he or she will have when they start practising,” Grewal said.