NEET After Effect- Private Medical Colleges now hike fees

Tamil Nadu: In what seems to be a after-effect of Supreme Court recent order on NEET, the state’s private universities are ready to shift their focus to increasing course fee to make their money Jumping at the opportunity, private medical colleges here have hiked the fee for MBBS this year.

As a result of which, students seeking admission in a private medical college will end up paying a steep fees of Rs 80-lakh for the complete course.

After the SC order, that admissions be based purely on merit, it seems now that many students will not get admission also because of this steep hike. The increases fee will only warrant more difficulties for the students who do not make it through the merit list. Most of them cannot afford the high fee ready to be charged by the private universities now.

As quoted by TOI, "If we don't have a merit list, these colleges will continue to demand capitation fee. Seats will be given to people who can afford and not to those who deserve. We have never been able to stop it. NEET is important for private medical colleges," said Dr GN Ravindranath, who spearheads Doctors' Association for Social Equality.

The tuition fee in government colleges is Rs 4,000 (per semester) and a student pays Rs 10,000 as annual fee. "Students here are admitted through a transparent single-window counselling. Pushing for NEET in government colleges is not the appropriate thing to do," he said.

There are many parents who have come forward to speak on the matter. A Chennai-based businessman implied in his statement that he will be considering private varsities like Saveetha University for his son’s admission in a medical college. However, at the moment it seems imprudent considering the complete cost break-up of the fee. The annual tuition fee is already up by 6 lakh to Rs 15 lakh mark. Add to it, equipment fee of Rs 3 lakh every year. If we calculated the whole amount, it will be Rs 70 lakh for the complete course of four and a half years. This is a heavy bank loan, he implied.

Also, considering the fact the common denominator of MBBS fees is at least Rs 40 lakh across the country in pvt medical colleges, this hike just seems too steep. This development is happening even though the apex court has ordered formulation of a committee, to be appointed by the TN govt. Constituted with the sole purpose of checking on the exorbitant tuition fee by private colleges, the committee members on the other hand, have said that they can only review tuition fee. No other charges fall under its purview.

However, ground facts only indicate that the private medical college fee has only doubled in the last 5 years. And, this year it seems it will double in just one go.