CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation has doubled the annual training fee charged to students of private nursing colleges and schools undergoing clinical training at its health facilities, with the revised rates to be collected retrospectively from July 6.

Annual fee for a nursing diploma student has been increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000, while the fee for BSc nursing students has gone up from Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000. For MSc Nursing, the fee is now Rs 7,500 from Rs 6,000.

The fees are charged to students from private nursing colleges and nursing schools who undergo training at facilities under the GCC’s Medical Services Department, including Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHCs), Urban Community Health Centres (UCHCs) and 24-hour hospitals.

The fees were last revised by the State government in 2020 and adopted by the council in 2024. Before the 2020 revision, students were charged Rs 500 Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 respectively.

The 2024 council decision also highlighted difficulties in collecting the revised fees. The GCC had reported Rs 91.31 lakh in pending training fees from private nursing schools and colleges for the period between 2020 and 2023. The Council subsequently decided to waive the arrears while implementing the revised rates.

Communist parties have opposed the move. “It’s unfair to raise the fee within 2 years of the previous hike,” said CPM ward councillor R Jayaraman who also questioned the DMK-led Corporation for adhering to the GO.