PG medical fees in pvt colleges hiked 20-30%

SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:1.5.2020

At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many into a financial crisis, the state government has increased fees for postgraduate medical seats in private colleges by 20-30%. The new seat matrix was published on the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) website on Thursday.

The fees in government colleges have been untouched. The hike impacts both government and private quota students in private colleges. The new fees mentioned on the website include RGUHS admission fee, while last year’s fee cited in this report excludes that component.

A clinical seat in a government college will cost Rs 1.1 lakh, a government seat in a private college Rs 7.1 lakh and a private seat in a private college Rs 11.5 lakh a year. Last year, the figures were Rs 1 lakh, Rs 5.8 lakh and Rs 8.7 lakh, respectively.

The lowest fee is for anatomy, physiology and biochemistry: Rs 38,900 in a government college, Rs 1.02 lakh for a government seat in a private college and Rs 1.6 lakh for a private one in a private college. Subjects like pharmacology, pathology, microbiology, community medicine and forensic medicine cost Rs 63,900, Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.9 lakh, respectively, in these quotas. Last year in private colleges, para-clinical courses under government quota cost Rs 1.5 lakh and private quota Rs 2.2 lakh. The fee was Rs 72,738 and Rs 1.09 lakh for pre-clinical courses.

‘Panel suggested 30-40% rise’

There was an increase of 15% in 2019-20 and 2018-19. “A committee headed by the additional chief secretary had recommended a rise of 30-40%. However, considering the current situation, it was decided that we keep the increase at 20%,” said PG Girish, director of medical education. There are 3,164 PG seats up for grabs.

According to the collegewise and course-wise fee structure uploaded on the KEA website, the highest fee in NRI quota is around Rs 1.3 crore for dermatology and radiodiagnosis at Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, Bengaluru. Paediatrics, general medicine, gynaecology and respiratory medicine courses in the college have a fee of Rs 1.26 crore each.