Students enrolling in medical and dental courses in the State for the academic year of 2022-23 may have to shell out more as a 10% hike in fee is likely.
While private medical and dental college managements have been demanding a 15% hike, sources said the government has decided to increase the fee by 10%. The principal secretary of the Department of Medical Education held the fourth meeting with private college representatives on Friday evening to discuss the issue.
The consensual agreement is expected to be signed on Monday between the State government and private medical and dental college managements.
According to the consensual agreement, there is a provision to increase the MBBS and BDS courses fee by 15% to 25% every year. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had not permitted a hike in fee for two years. The private institutions said in the meeting that they are suffering from a financial crunch and an increase in the fees for the MBBS and BDS courses is unavoidable. Sources said government representatives convinced the college managements to agree for a 10% fee hike.
M.R. Jayaram, Honorary Secretary of Karnataka Private Medical and Dental Colleges Association, told The Hindu, “Private medical and dental colleges are suffering from a financial crunch. Therefore, we put our demand in front of the government to increase the medical and dental courses fees up by 15%. But, the government is delaying its decision. We are also waiting for the government decision in this regard.”
