‘Govt fee for 50% med seats will hike rest to Rs 50-60L’

CHENNAI: A bunch of private medical colleges and universities from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry UT had firmly insisted to the Madras High Court that it is impossible to implement the memorandum of the National Medical Commission (NMC) to collect the fees for the 50 per cent of government quota seats on par with the fees collected by the government medical colleges.

Senior Counsel and former Advocate General S Vijay Narayan representing a medical institute made the submission before the first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala of Madras High Court.

“The government medical colleges in the state are collecting Rs 18,000 as annual fees for a student. If the self-financing colleges intend to collect Rs 18,000 per year for 50 per cent of seats, then they would have to collect Rs 50 lakh to 60 lakh to ensure the operation of the institution. The same cannot be afforded by several families, ” the senior counsel informed.

He further recalled the submissions of the State government before the Supreme Court in a case that it would cost Rs 60 lakh per annum for a PG medical seat in private medical colleges.

“Even though the government medical colleges are collecting the subsidised fees of Rs 18,000, they ask the students to sign a bond making it compulsory to serve in government medical facilities for two years. The self-financing colleges cannot do the same,” the former AG noted.

The senior advocate also noted that the State has a fees fixation committee to consult with the private medical institutions to receive proposals for fixing the fees based on the facilities and infrastructure available with the concerned institutions.

“Currently, it costs from Rs 15 lakh to 20 lakh to pursue MBBS in a private medical college and takes up to Rs 30 lakh in deemed to be universities. The State has acknowledged the same before the Apex Court in NEET case,” Vijay Narayan argued.

The private medical colleges, including Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Melmaruvathur Adhiparasakthi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences and Education Promotion Society for India and other institutions had approached the Madras HC challenging the Section 10 (1) (i) of the National Medical Commission Act of 2019 under which the memorandum was issued on February 3.

The memorandum wanted the private medical colleges to collect fees for the 50% of government quota seats on par with the fees collected by the government medical colleges.

As the arguments have to be put by senior counsel PS Raman and ARL Sundaresan, the HC posted the matter on August 16 for further hearing.