The Institute of Medicine (IoM) on Saturday warned all the private medical colleges affiliated to it not to charge fee more than what has been set by the government. Referring to a government decision of December 4 last year, the IoM said that the private medical colleges cannot charge fees in arbitrary basis.

Fee in Kathmandu Valley has been set at Rs 3.8 million while private medicate colleges outside the Valley should not charge more than Rs 4.24 million for the MBBS course, as per the government decision. Similarly, fee for BDS programme has been set Rs 1.9 million.

With the admission date for the MBBS programme drawing closer, many colleges affiliated to the Tribhuvan University are learnt to have been “bargaining” on fee, demanding as much as Rs 6 million.

Issuing a public statement on Saturday, the IoM said that private medical colleges should inform the parents and the students through a public statement regarding their bank details.

Similarly, the colleges can only take 50 percent of the total money during the admission while the rest of the amount should be paid in the next two years.

“The admission for the MBBS programme must be based on merit,” said Dr JP Agrawal, dean of the IoM. “Only merit-based students who will be selected from our counselling session will be enrolled. Upon selection, they will first deposit the required money to the bank accounts of the respective colleges, which should put the details online before the admission is confirmed by the IoM.”

Dr Agrawal said this prior notice on the admission will also help the private medical colleges make necessary arrangements.

“Aspiring MBBS students and their parents should also be aware about the fee structures to ensure that they are not charged more by medical colleges,” said Dr Agrawal.  The IoM has fixed the entrance examination for MBBS and BDS programmes for October 14. There are seven medical colleges affiliated to the IoM.

Dr Govinda KC, who has long been demanding reforms in the medical education sector, last week had expressed concern over the reports of foul play on the part of some private medical colleges. Dr KC has demanded that the government strictly implement its own decision on the fee structure.

Today Kathmandu University publishes the result of MBBS and BDS Entrance Examination. Unlike Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu University has revised the MBBS fee and the fee ranged from 39 Lakh to up to 50 lakh.

source:the kathmandu ppst, 17 September 2017