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In a first such survey, an expert group under National Medical Commission, the apex medical regulator, has found that the median for fees of deemed universities is Rs 21 lakh a year, almost double of the median for fees of private medical colleges at Rs 11.5 lakh a year. Median is the middle number in an ascending or descending list of numbers.
There are nearly 96,000 MBBS seats in the country for 2023, of which nearly half are in the private sector (private medical colleges and deemed universities).
The information made available to Parliament in a written reply by Dr Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education, showed that the median fee for seats under management quota was the same as that for normal seats in private colleges as well as deemed universities. For seats under NRI quota (reserved for NRIs, Overseas Citizens of India, Persons of Indian Origin or those with an NRI sponsor living outside India), the median fee was more than double that for normal seats at Rs 24 lakhs a year in private medical colleges. The median fees for NRI quota seats at deemed universities was 50 per cent higher than that for normal seats at Rs 31 lakh a year.
As for government quota seats – seats in private colleges earmarked by state governments with usually lower fees and higher qualifying ranks, the cost is one-sixth the normal fees in the private colleges and one-tenth the normal fees at deemed university, according to the reply.
“The fee structure differs for different categories of seats in different states – there was a drastic difference in fee structures across the country. This made it impossible for the government to settle on a baseline fee for MBBS, hence the exercise to determine the median fee was undertaken by the expert committee,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, former head of Maharashtra’s Department of Medical Education and Research.
The expert group can guide the fee regulatory authorities across the country – there are 27 fee regulatory committees from each of the states and 70 committees from each of the deemed universities.
This fee, however, will not become the baseline for deciding fees for the private medical colleges in the country. In an attempt to make medical education more accessible – so that India’s needs can be fulfilled and children do not have to go abroad to study, the government has increased the number of medical seats and also reduced the cost of education in private medical colleges.
Earlier this year, the National Medical Commission issued guidelines stating that the fee for half the number of seats across private colleges and deemed universities must be brought to the level of government medical colleges. In addition, the guidelines spelt out certain principles to calculate the fees for the rest of the seats. Although the NMC had said the new fee structure would be applicable from the current session, the matter is pending in court.
“As of now, the existing Supreme Court judgements say that the deemed universities have a right to fix the fees of their seats in consultation with their fee regulatory committee, headed by a retired judge. Although the current matter is pending in courts, the NMC cannot unilaterally decide to fix the fees for all 100% seats. For that, the government will have to go to Parliament,” said Dr Shingare.
