KOCHI: Even as the State Government on Tuesday issued a GO without specifying the fee structure in 20 medical colleges other than those under the Inter-Church Council, MES president Dr Fazal Gafoor who controls the MES Medical College says that a common fee structure can take the annual fee to Rs 7 lakh per seat. “Any move to impose the common fee structure will strike at the root of social justice which we have been propounding for so long. We want only the counseling right because of the peculiarities in our admission process and to ensure that all seats of all medical colleges are filled. We are taking students from the NEET rank list only,” he told DC on Tuesday representing the cause of the 20 medical colleges.
He said that if the fee structure in both government and management quota is leveled, then the Supreme Court directed audited fee structure has come in effect. “Such a fee structure takes into account the money spent on building the infrastructure and buying land and also recurring cost including those on equipment and faculty. Most of the private colleges were born in the past decade and all have been entering into agreement with the government for subsidized fee structure and hence could not recover cost. So only a fee of Rs 7 lakh across all seats except NRI seats would make a rational fee structure taking into the cost factor,” said Dr Fazal Gafoor.
He said that provided the Government allowed the counseling rights to the managements in management quota seats, they are willing to allow a fee structure of Rs 10 lakh in 35 percent management seats, Rs 15 lakh in 15 percent NRI seats, Rs 25,000 in 50 percent of the 50 percent government quota seats and Rs 1.50 lakh in the rest 50 percent seats. Meanwhile Education expert Dr T P Sethumadhavan said that the delay in conducting the MBBS/BDS counseling will drive students to other states. “Counselling for MBBS and BDS across the country will be completed by September 10. So students from Kerala are compelled to join in these colleges after paying higher fees,” he said.
