New Delhi: In a major relief to millions of medical students, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has come out with a new formula for medical colleges as the regulator barred medical colleges from increasing the fees of the course in the mid of the session. The fee decided at the time of admission would now be fixed for the entire course period from the next academic session.
As per the new guidelines issued by the NMC, the fee fixed for a student joining a college in a particular year should remain the same for the entire duration of his/her study, and the new guidelines would be effective from the next academic year. There are 595 medical colleges in the country and more than half of the total medical colleges are being run by private players.
The move is seen as a major relief for lakhs of medical students. As per the existing practice, there was no 'rule' to prevent medical colleges from increasing fees during the mid of the course.
Notably, the fee of private medical colleges ranges from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore per year for the five-year MBBS course, while Rs 5 lakh is the fee for medical education in government medical colleges.
The NMC has also directed medical institutions to increase the fee on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for one time in a year or once in three years at the rate of 5 per cent. The increased fee would only be for the new admission and it would not be applicable to already enrolled students.
In another major decision, the NMC has also barred medical colleges from charging capitation fees in any form or manner. "For determination of fees for MBBS/PG courses, it needs to be ensured that the principle of education being "not-for-profit" is strictly adhered to," it said.
The NMC order also said that no excessive expense and exorbitant profit component should be allowed to be added to the fees as all the operating costs and other expenses for running and maintenance of the institution for imparting medical education on a sustainable basis are covered in the fees. It has also been decided that fees of the 50 per cent seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities to be at par with the fee in the government medical colleges of that particular state/UT.
"The benefit of this fee structure would be first made available to those candidates who have availed government quota seats, but limited to the extent of 50 per cent of total sanctioned strength of respective medical college/deemed university," it said.
However, if the government quota seats are less than 50 per cent of the total sanctioned seats, the remaining candidates would avail the benefit of a fee equivalent to the government medical college fee on the basis of merit.