The Shikshan Shulk Samiti, a committee appointed by the Supreme Court had on Thursday announced in Mumbai a 10% fee hike for the 29 private unaided medical and dental colleges across the state.
VJ Kulkarni the committee spokesperson explained that the fee structure was fixed after taking into account the total expenditure incurred by the colleges. The managements are however not too pleased by the increase and have written to committee chairman Justice A C Agarwal in this respect.The managements of private collages have expressed their unhappiness with the ‘dismal hike’, claiming that they wouldn’t be able to run their colleges’ according to the standards of the Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India.
Dr AM Vare, president of the Association of Private Unaided Medical and Dental Colleges (APUMDC), has said, “This interim fee structure cannot be justified. It is difficult for us to run a medical college with such a low fee structure.
Meanwhile scores of students aspiring to become doctors are greatly unhappy with the hike. The parents have expressed their feelings that the medical education is going out of reach for the middle class families.
It was expressed that students who want to be doctors are just being discouraged. One such a parent, Juliet Crasta, said her daughter might give up her dream of being a doctor and opt for a BSc degree instead.
A spokesman for the Parents' Association of Medical Students Rajesh Jain said, "It's not just the exorbitant fees, it's also the poor quality of infrastructure," while explaining that the association has been fighting several legal battles over this issue from the past few years.
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