Mumbai: Disabled medical students yet to get refund of their money, even after 6 years

Mumbai: Nine differently abled medical students are running from pillar to post to get a refund of the hard-earned money they had paid during their admission to medical college. The college has, in turn, shirked their responsibility and has blamed the government for its apathy. As per the rules, under handicap scholarship, disabled students are supposed to pay only Rs 5,000 instead of Rs 50,000 which they paid in the first year.

“As we were not aware of the rules due we paid Rs 50, 000 for the first year,” said one of the students. He further stated that for taking admission in the second year we were asked to pay Rs 70,000 as admission fees on a condition that it would be reimbursed immediately as the college receives fund from the government.

“When we complained about not getting our refund back, officials from KEM asked us to approach the social welfare department which has further delayed the matter,” student added. An official of the King Edward Memorial hospital said this happens almost every year. “The social welfare department, which is supposed to pay for the scholarship does not pay the amount due to lack of fund and students money go to drain,” added official.

The officials from Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) said that if the handicapped medical students belong to open category then they get 50 per cent concessions in their admission fee. “There is a different open handicapped scheme for the student who are disabled. Then they just have to pay 50 per cent of the admission fees,” the official added.

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The students said earlier they were not aware of the fees procedure as they were new to the college. “We were asked to pay the whole amount during the admission. Later, seniors of our college told us they just had to pay university fees, not the whole admission fees,” said one of the students.

He further said he has paid nearly Rs 1 lakh, which has not been reimbursed till now. “Many times, we visited the social welfare department, but every time we get an answer that there are no funds. As per the statistics around Rs 5 lakh needs to be reimbursed,” a student added.