Fee disparity has MBBS, BDS aspirants on edge

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 15

Huge disparity in the fee structure for over 3,000 MBBS, BDS, MD/MS and MDS seats in the state has left a large number of aspirants on the edge.

Over a week after the Medical Education Department informed all medical and dental colleges in the state about the amendment to the Punjab Private Health Sciences Institution (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making Reservation) Act, 2006, which empowers it to fix the fee structure for all medical and dental colleges, while the department is yet to announce the fee structure for all colleges, it has left the students baffled as some private colleges have fixed their own independent fee structure.

The problem is acute for the aspirants of about 1,000 MD/MS and MDS (postgraduate) seats.

For fresh admissions in MD and MS courses (clinical), while two private medical college are charging Rs 6.5 lakh per annum as tuition fee, one private college has fixed the fee at Rs 14.90 lakh. Another private college is charging Rs 9.5 lakh as fee plus Rs 5 lakh registration fee.

“As the government is yet to announce a uniform fee structure for all private medical colleges by the state government, some colleges have announced their independent fee structure, forcing us to pay fee to get the allotted seat,” said father of a girl student in Faridkot.

“There is a deadline to either join or surrender the allotted seat, otherwise admission will be cancelled. But in the absence of the announcement, we are unsure if we will be able to pay the fee,” said father of another student from Bathinda.

DK Tiwari, principal secretary, Department of Medical Education, said the state government was already in the process of announcing the fee structure. “The department will announce the new fee structure in view of the amendment to the Act in the next one or two days and all colleges have to adhere to it,” he said.

As per the amendment, the state government shall regulate admissions, fix fee and make reservation for different categories at private health sciences educational institutions, which include all medical, dental, ayurvedic and homoeopathic colleges in the state.