Enrolling in a MBBS course of four and a half years at a private medical colleges in Bengal is getting highly expensive for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Undergraduate (NEET-UG) qualified candidates aspiring to be doctors. From now, a candidate will have to cough up around one crore rupees to get a berth in the undergraduate medical course under management quota in a private medical college in the state in the academic session 2021- 22.
For government medical colleges, it takes hardly Rs 75,000 (Rs 6000 per semester) for a candidate to complete the course comprising nine semesters in four and a half months. With memorandums issued by the state health department to the director of medical education (DME) for five private medical colleges on 3 February there has been a steep hike in course fees for the new entrants.
A permanent fee structure committee headed by a retired judge of the High Court approves MBBS course fees in private medical colleges after considering applications of each institute seeking fee revisions under state and management quotas ahead of academic sessions beginning from August-September every year.
The committee also includes officials of both health and higher education departments as its members. According to the memorandums signed by a special secretary in the health department at Swasthya Bhaban, the revised course fees for a first year MBBS students under the management quota in Sri Ram Krishna Institute of Medical Science (SRIMS) and Sanaka Hospital in Durgapur are Rs 10,94,000 (tuition fee) per semester excluding onetime admission fee Rs 50,000.
For candidates under state quota, it’s Rs 2,75,000 each for a semester. Interestingly, four other private medical colleges – Gouri Devi Institute of Medical Science and Hospital, in Durgapur, Jagannath Institute of Medical Science Hospital (JIMSH) in Budge Budge, Shantiniketan Medical College and ICARE Institute of Medical Science and Research (IIMSAR), Haldia, would charge Rs 9,000,00 per semester for a berth under the management quota.