Mumbai: Regulate medical college fee structure, say parents

Parents of students seeking admission in medical courses in Maharashtra are up in arms against irregular and unjustified fee structures of private and deemed university colleges.

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The authorities at the Directorate of Medical Education and Research say parents should expect a hike of about 20% on the previous year's fees. File pic for representation

Without uniform fee structures, fees of medical colleges are varying in the range of Rs 4 lakh to Rs 16 lakh. Parents have asked for government intervention with a letter that they will send to the Chief Minister, Medical Education Minister and other authorities requesting for justified, realistic, and uniform fee structure in colleges.

Complete chaos
Medical admissions have been in complete chaos this year and the admission process has not begun as yet.

The letter, which will be sent to the CM and other authorities seeking their intervention, states: ‘The randomness of the fee structure of the medical institutes is grave injustice. The fee structure of private and deemed medical colleges is not yet declared. From among those who have declared fee structures, some are charging Rs 16.5 lakh and others Rs 11.5 lakh, while some are taking Rs 5 lakh or Rs 8 lakh as annual fees.'

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It further adds, ‘There is no rationale or uniformity. We urge you to take proactive steps in bringing down fees to a level at which they are affordable to the common man of Maharashtra.'

Confused parents
Ruhi Kapoor, one of the parents, said, "How will there be a doctor from a common man's family if the fee structures are so high? Everybody brought in the single national entrance test speaking about how it will help parents and candidates with less stress, uniformity in process, regulation on fees. But there is no regulation. Even the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) is not very clear about information on fee structures."

No declaration yet
While huge figures are mentioned by colleges as fee structure in coming days, none of them have declared their fee structure for the current academic year yet.

"The fee structures being spoken about are those being told by colleges when parents approach them. Official declared figures are of last academic year's fee structure in which parents are supposed to expect a hike of up to 20 per cent. This is what DMER told us," said Dilip Joshi, another confused parent.

Anju Meswani, another parent, said, "The merit list will be declared on August 30, after which we will have to fill forms of college preferences. Fee structure is an important aspect for us to decide for the admissions."

Official speak
When contacted, Dr Praveen Shingare, director DMER, said, "All private colleges have to apply to Shikshan Shulka Samiti to approve a fee hike. Many colleges are still in the process. Hence, fees of the previous year will be shown to parents with a notice that they should expect hike of up to 20 per cent, depending on how much hike they are granted. But this has been the regular process."