Kerala LDF government draws flak on medical fee

Thiruvananthapuram: The LDF government’s decision to more than double the fees for government quota seats for PG medical courses in self-financing medical colleges has come in for criticism from many quarters as it contradicted the ruling front’s promise all along to rationalise the fees and disallow profiteering by managements.

The tuition fees for government quota seats in post-graduate courses in Christian management colleges will go up by 100 percent for 2017-18. This is following the agreement reached by the state government and the medical colleges under the Kerala Christian Professional College Management Association on Wednesday. As per the agreement signed between Health Minister K.K. Shailaja and the managements, the government has approved a uniform fee structure for both government and management quota seats.

M. Shajar Khan, SUCI leader and Save Education Committee state secretary, told DC that the government move cannot be justified.  “The LDF government has literally allowed the Kerala Christian Professional College Managements' Federation(KCPCMF) to loot the PG medical students,” he said. “There is none here to question the decision. This is deplorable and the government has to withdraw it.” The AIYF,  student wing of the CPI, has also opposed it and asked the government to revoke it.   State president  R. Harilal and secretary Mahesh Kakkath alleged that the  government had  hiked the fees  to help the self-financing college managements. KSU state president K.M. Abhijith said his organisation will launch a massive agitation against the fee hike.  

Justice R. Rajendra Babu, who heads the fees regulatory and admission supervisory committee, however, defended  the hike saying that  PG medical students have to be given the mandatory stipend of Rs 43, 000 per month. “They, too, should get something in return for the upkeep of the infrastructure,” he said. “The existing fee structure has been in force for quite some time. Now the fee structure has been made uniform.”

The fee structure used to be Rs 6.5 lakh for government quota (50 per cent), Rs 17.5 lakh for 35 per cent seats and rs 25 lakh for the 15 per cent in NRI quota. “After adding Rs 6.5 lakh and Rs 17.5 lakh, I have taken the average and then half of that amount,” he said. The fees structure for the present academic year (2017 -18) is as follows: PG degree (clinical): Rs 14 lakh, PG degree (non-clinical):  Rs 8.5 lakh, PG diploma: Rs 10.5 lakh, super speciality: Rs 18.5 lakh.

The fees last year (2016-17) were as follows: Government seats: PG degree (clinical): Rs 6.5 lakh, PG degree (non- clinical): Rs 2.6 lakh.

Management seats:  PG degree (clinical): Rs 14 lakh, PG degree (non-clinical): Rs 6 lakh, PG diploma: Rs 4.9 lakh, super speciality: Rs 17.5 lakh. There are 115 PG seats in the four medical colleges-- Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute, Thrissur, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Medical College, Kolencherry and Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Thiruvalla-- under the KCPCMF. As per the new decision, medical colleges under the Federation will levy a fee of Rs 14 lakh for PG seats. Last year, the fee for government quota was Rs 6.5 lakh and that for management quota Rs 17.5 lakh.

Fees this year for:

PG degree (clinical): Rs 14 lakh
PG degree (non-clinical): Rs 8.5 lakh
PG diploma: Rs 10.5 lakh

PG degree (clinical): Rs 14 lakh
Super speciality: Rs 18.5 lakh