Thiruvananthapuram: The managements of the self-financing medical colleges in Kerala have approached the Admission Supervisory Committee for Professional Colleges headed by Justice R Rajendra Babu seeking a significant fee hike for the MBBS seats. The managements claim that they are likely to land in financial crisis since the National Medical Commission has issued latest guidelines. They say that a fee hike is the only solution to overcome this.
As per the guidelines issues by the Medical Commission, every medical college must have oxygen generator plant and pipeline, skill lab, binocular microscope (120 pieces that costs Rs 50,000 per piece), emergency department, physical medicine and rehabilitation department, anti retroviral therapy (ART) centre, multi drug resistance TB treatment (MDR) and wifi connectivity. Now, each college has to spend around Rs 4.05 crore to arrange the basic facilities to meet these guidelines.
Appointments to at least 34 posts including professors, associate professors, senior resident, tutor, counselor, technician and attender have to be completed before introducing emergency medicine, physical medicine, anatomy, physiology, bio chemistry, micro chemistry, micro biology, pharmacology, forensic medicine, ART centre, skill lab and MDR TB treatment. The managements informed the Committee that the annual salary expenditure alone would go up to Rs 4.19 crore.
As per the directions of the Supreme Court, in 2017, the Rajendra Babu committee has to fix the annual course fee for MBBS seats in the self financing medical colleges in Kerala. Earlier, four Christian managements had informed the Committee that fee hike wasn’t necessary for the already enrolled students. They had, instead, sought a minimal fee hike for newly admitted students this year. However, after the National Medical Commission had issued the guidelines, the managements have demanded a fee hike that is proportionate to the salary expenditure. Self-financing Medical College Managements Association too has asked for a fee hike.