Private self-financing medical colleges come up with new fee structure formula for govt

Thiruvanathapuram: A few private self-financing medical colleges have approached the State government with a new fee structure formula. This has led to the Kerala Private Medical Managements' Association to abstain from all formal discussions with the government on fee for the time being. The association plans to wait till the High Court pronounces its decision on the plea challenging the uniform fee structure for medical seats in self-financing medical colleges, as decided by the fee regulatory committee.

The Government has an offer from approximately 15 private medical colleges of contuing with last year's admission fee structure.

The Secretary of the Association, Anil kumar Vallil, said some college managements proposal of concessions was only an informal one.

Though no formal talks have been fixed with the government, the managements of medical colleges run by CSI and MES will be meeting the Health Minister on Monday for further discussions on fee concessions.

As per last year's fee structure, the fees for 25% BPL- SEBC seats is Rs. 25,000, and Rs. 2.5 lakh for the remaining 25% seats in government quota. The fee for 35% seats in management quota is Rs. 11 lakh and for 15% NRI quota seats, it is Rs. 15 lakh.

"We are willing to sign the agreement, but it will be up to the government to get it validated by the court. Because there is come confusion whether such a contract will be valid now that all medical admissions are to be done on the basis of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)."

"We will be meeting the Health Minister on Monday but the focus of our discussion will not be on the fee structure as such but whether a differential fee structure will be valid," P.A. Fazal Gafoor, President, MES, told The Hindu .

"NEET was brought in only to bring in transparency in merit. The order says that the State government should do the allotment from a common list but nowhere does it say that there should be a common fee or that poor students should not be provided scholarships," he added.