Medical, dental fee likely to go up by 15% in Karnataka

Bengaluru, Oct 22: The fee for undergraduate medical and dental courses in the state is likely to go up by 15% this academic year.

Sources in the Department of Medical Education said the government was mulling continuing the previous year's decision on fee hike. This means 15% hike for government seats and 25% for private seats. 

A meeting on the issue between the Medical Education minister and the private medical college representatives on Thursday was cancelled last minute as the minister was busy with his pre-scheduled engagements.

"It was the first meeting convened and it got cancelled. We have not officially received any requests from them about the fee hike, but the same will be discussed in the meeting with the minister and we are planning to decide on it in the first sitting itself," said an official from the Department of Medical Education. 

According to the sources, the private medical college managements are demanding  a hike of 25% to 30%. A representative of a private medical college from Bengaluru said, "The deemed-to-be universities and private universities have the privilege to charge around Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. We want the fee to be increased on par with them."

Officials said that this is the last year that the state government will bargain with the medical colleges. "From next year, the matter would be left to all-India level counseling by the Directorate General of Health Services, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Since this is the last year, in all probability, we are doing this, we might consider their demand and increase the fee in line with the previous year's agreement," added an official.

The existing fee structure for medical courses for government quota seats at a private medical college is Rs 1,28,746 and for private quota seats is Rs 9,81,956. This is as per the hike made during 2020-2021 academic year. 

Similarly, the fee in private dental colleges stands at Rs 83,356 and Rs 6,66,023 for government and private quota seats, respectively. 

It can be recalled that the fee for undergraduate medical courses has increased by 200% in the last 10 years. The fee charged during 2006-07 academic year for government quota seats at private medical colleges was Rs 42,000. 

In the academic year 2018-19, even the fees at government medical colleges increased significantly from Rs 16,700 to Rs 59,800.