PG dental and medical fees in private colleges hiked 20-30% in Karnataka

PG dental and medical fees in private colleges hiked 20-30% in Karnataka

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, May 1, 2020: The State government has hiked the postgraduate medical and dental fees for the 2020-2021 academic year at a time when colleges and schools have been instructed not to increase tuition fees.

According to an order issued by the Medical Education Department, PG medical and dental fees for institutional quota has been hiked by 30% in private medical and dental colleges. The fee increase in both medical and dental streams will be 20% for government quota seats in private colleges.

The fee hike for government quota seats in deemed universities is 20%. There is however no change in the fees in government medical colleges.

Sources in the department said that the hike was inevitable as both dental and medical college managements had claimed that they would not be able to meet the infrastructure requirements and pay salaries to their staff if there were not allowed to increase the fees.

A clinical seat in a government college will cost Rs 1.1 lakh, a government seat in a private college Rs 7.1 lakh and a private seat in a private college Rs 11.5 lakh a year. Last year, the figures were Rs 1 lakh, Rs 5.8 lakh and Rs 8.7 lakh, respectively.

The lowest fee is for anatomy, physiology and biochemistry: Rs 38,900 in a government college, Rs 1.02 lakh for a government seat in a private college and Rs 1.6 lakh for a private one in a private college. Subjects like pharmacology, pathology, microbiology, community medicine and forensic medicine cost Rs 63,900, Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.9 lakh, respectively, in these quotas. Last year in private colleges, para-clinical courses under government quota cost Rs 1.5 lakh and private quota Rs 2.2 lakh. The fee was Rs 72,738 and Rs 1.09 lakh for pre-clinical courses.

‘Panel suggested 30-40% rise’
There was an increase of 15% in 2019-20 and 2018-19. “A committee headed by the additional chief secretary had recommended a rise of 30-40%. However, considering the current situation, it was decided that we keep the increase at 20%,” said PG Girish, director of medical education. There are 3,164 PG seats up for grabs.