National
Rs 3.1m fee set for MD/MS courses
The Tribhuvan University has finally fixed fees for MD/MS programmes, following intense criticism from all quarters that its failure to set fees has encouraged medical colleges to charge exorbitant sums for the post graduate courses.The Tribhuvan University has finally fixed fees for MD/MS programmes, following intense criticism from all quarters that its failure to set fees has encouraged medical colleges to charge exorbitant sums for the post graduate courses.
In a letter sent to Institute of Medicine (IoM) on Tuesday, the TU has said that the fees for the MD/MS and MDS (dental) will be Rs3,099,396 for the three-year courses.
Following up on the TU letter, the IoM on Wednesday completed counselling of students and assigned each of them with the medical colleges to pursue the selected courses.
IoM Dean Dr Jagdish Prasad Agrawal said the students can now pay around Rs3.1 million to the concerned medical college. “If we delay the admission process, the academic calendar will be missed. Now, the students should be responsible and pay the amount as set by the TU,” he said.
On the issue of unilateral admissions by medical colleges, charging students with exorbitant fees, Dr Agrawal reiterated that the medical schools do not have the right to admit the students themselves. “If any medical colleges have done so, the students won’t be recognised by the IoM. All the consequences should be borne by the medical college itself.”
Recently, experts including former TU vice-chancellor Kedar Bhakta Mathema have expressed serious concern over the arbitrary and exorbitant fees charged by medical schools for the MD/MS courses.
Issuing a statement, Mathema and team of doctors, who drafted the Health Profession Education Policy (HPEP), said they are saddened by news reports that attempts were underway to thwart IoM’s efforts to implement the merit-based admission. A major recommendation of the HPEP was to end the arbitrary fees charged by medical schools, the statement said.
Even the Supreme Court had asked the TU to set the fees. A single bench of Justice Anil Kumar Sinha had on June 4 issued an interim order, stating that the admission process should be based on merit and open counselling. The issue of fees for MD/MS gained prominence after some of the medical colleges affiliated to the TU were found to have charged as much as Rs10 million and over Rs7 million for courses, including Radiology and Orthopaedics.