NRI medical students demand fee refund

HYDERABAD: Several medical students who gave up their MBBS seats, allotted under the management and NRI quotas, ahead of the Mop Up round (conducted after the second round of counselling to fill vacant seats), are still waiting for colleges to refund their fee. Students alleged that colleges are harassing them by releasing only partial fee even as some college managements are withholding their certificates.

“After the college sent out a mail saying that candidates can let go of their seats before the Mop Up round, we decided to do so. However, the college withheld ₹1 lakh from the fee we paid and only refunded ₹11.28 lakh. When we questioned the management about deduction of the remaining amount, they failed to give us any valid reason,” said a parent whose child gave up a seat in a private medical college.

He added, “My child did not like the college and decided to take a one-year break instead. We need to know exactly why the money was deducted.”

Squarely blaming the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) - to which all medical colleges are affiliated — for this, members of the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) stressed how the university has failed to regulate private colleges in the state, time and again.

“KNRUHS officials have always failed to deal with the violations that private medical colleges resort to. Be it seat blocking, bank guarantee, an excess collection of tuition fees or false transactions of stipends, they have never initiated any action against them. Even now, when the colleges are withholding a part of the fee paid, the varsity is not addressing the issue. HRDA urges officials to act swiftly at least from now and initiate legal action against private medical colleges violating the rules. It’s also high time that they launch a student-friendly grievance cell so that issues can be resolved immediately,” said K Mahesh Kumar of HRDA adding that the body will be submitting a representation to the officials once the varsity reopens after the Dasara vacation.