The disparity between the number of MBBS doctors produced every year and the number of post-graduate (PG) seats available in the country has provided a fertile ground for private medical colleges to fix fees arbitrarily in PG courses.

Every year more than 1,500 MBBS doctors are produced in the country, while only around 350 PG seats are available in 10 domestic medical colleges. With limited numbers of seats, students have been forced to pay exorbitant fees to study PG programmes.

Cases of exorbitant fee collection have came to light after the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) received a complaint against Bhairahawa-based Universal Medical College (UMC). Students eyeing PG seats in Radiology at UMC have complained that the college sought a whopping Rs 12 million for the three-year programme. The plaint states that UMC demanded Rs 12 million to study Doctor of Medicine (MD) in Radiology. “UMC has demanded Rs 7.5 million for MD in Orthopaedics, Rs 7 million for Surgery and Rs 5 million each for Dermatology and Psychiatry,” said one of the NMA officials present in a meeting held last Saturday over the issue. “The MBBS course is already expensive in private colleges and now MD fees, too, are beyond our capacity,”an MBBS doctor who was seeking his admission in UMC.
According students, after a group of MBBC doctors had decided not to study at UMC, the college tried to offer seats at bargain prices. Dhurba Poudel, a representative of UMC in Kathmandu, claimed that the college is charging foreign students Rs 12 million and Nepali students Rs 7 million to study MD in Radiology.

According to MD aspirants, private medical colleges, especially affiliated with Tribhuvan University, charge higher fees for PG courses since the country’s oldest university has not regulated medical fees unlike Kathmandu University. “This has allowed private medical colleges to fix fees arbitrarily.

Birjung-based National Medical College (NMC) charges over Rs 7.5 million for PG degrees in Radiology, Rs 6.5 million for Orthopaedic Surgery and Rs 4.5 million for Dermatology and Psychiatry. NMC admission-in-charge Abid Hussein Ansari said good faculties and facilities are required to run the PG courses, hence the fees are set accordingly.

However, sources said NMC had collected around Rs 4 million for MD in Radiology last year. UMC and NMC are among the seven IoM affiliated colleges of TU that run PG programmes.
Fees at Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, however, are much lower. Dr BP Das, vice-chancellor of the institute, said their fee range is from Rs 2.5 million to Rs 4.5 million depending upon the subjects that Nepali students pursue.

KU started regulating fees for PG courses since last year. The university has instructed the medical colleges affiliated with it to charge Rs 2.25 million for clinical subjects such as Radiology and Orthopedic. For non-clinical courses such as Anatomy and Physiology, the colleges have been asked to charge Rs 1 million fees. “We have been strictly asking the colleges to abide by the rule along with our own regulatory mechanism,” said Deepak Dahal, administrative officer of Dean Office of School of Medical Sciences, KU.

Apart from the failure of TU to set a ceiling on fees for PG courses, the university has also not been able to set a quota for foreign students in various subjects. “Since TU is silent on how much foreign students are to be enrolled each year, the affiliated colleges either want to admit all foreign students or compel Nepali students to pay fees as much as foreign students pay,” a professor at Institute of Medicine (IoM) said requesting anonymity.

Following complaints about arbitrary fee collection, the NMA has asked the IoM Dean Office to form criteria for the fees that private medical colleges charge. NMA President Dr Anjani Kumar Jha said no colleges have the right to charge exorbitant fees.

IoM Assistant Dean Dr Sarad Onta said the institute has no provision to regulate fees charged by medical colleges. “Now we need to come up with a new mechanism taking consent from the Tribhuvan University Executive Council before we start regulating the fees,” he said.

Every year around 100 students get enrolled in the IoM PG programme at Maharajgunj and it charges Nepali students from around Rs 1.8 to Rs 2 million for PG courses in all subjects. The fee for foreign students is around $30,000.

source: the kathmandu post,22 June 2013