Congress demands fee waiver in med colleges

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  21.12.2020

The Congress on Sunday pressed for its demand for a fee waiver in medical courses and a hike in the stipend amount given to medical students in Gujarat attending Covid-19 duties.

In a letter to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said that the colleges and institutions in the state have been shut down from March 21 due to Covid-19 pandemic and keeping in view the financial crisis undergone by the middle-class in this period, the government should announce a fee waiver for the ongoing academic year.

In the case of government-run medical colleges, the annual fees is Rs 25,000 while in the case of GMERS and self-financed colleges, it is Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh and Rs 8 lakh to Rs 28 lakh respectively.

There is uncertainty about when these medical colleges will start and in these circumstances, when medical education is completely discontinued for 10 months, institutions including medical colleges have not incurred administrative expenses, laboratory expenses, maintenance costs and electricity costs, and a fee cut should be announced, according to Doshi.

He said that according to a Gujarat high court order, the state government was to take a decision regarding fee waiver in colleges. However it has been pending for some time now.

Junior doctors to call off strike

Ahmedabad: The Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA) at Civil Hospital on Sunday released a video stating that the scheduled strike on Monday is cancelled. The strike was called to draw attention to various pending demands. In a video message, a group of doctors said that they had a meeting with Dr J P Modi, medical superintendent, and other senior officers on the issue. After assurance from the authorities, they decided to revoke the call unconditionally. The doctors’ demands included benefits of one-year bond and senior residentship, work in respective specialties and not to allot work as medical officers.. TNN