MBBS fees: Govt favouring pvt colleges, alleges oppn

Thiruvananthapuram: Alleging that the state government was deliberately delaying the procedures for deciding the fee structure for MBBS course ‘to favour management of self-financing medical colleges that propose an exorbitant fee structure’, the opposition staged a walkout in the legislative assembly on Tuesday.
“There’s a prior understanding between the government and the managements in fixing a higher fee, and now the candidates are told to sign a bond during the seat allotment saying that they will accept whatever fee is decided at a later stage,” said Congress MLA and former health minister V S Sivakumar, while moving an adjournment motion on the subject. As per the high court direction, the government had to fix the fee structure six months before seat allotment, he pointed out, terming the lapse ‘criminal negligence’.
Dismissing the allegations, health minister K K Shailaja said the fee regulatory committee would fix the fee structure before the first allotment, which will be held from July 8 to 12. “The government order on signing a bond by students was just a precautionary measure. The government has no role in fixing the fee and will accept whatever fee structure the committee decides in accordance with guidelines set by the court,” she told the assembly.
Citing Lok Sabha elections as the reason for the delay in the legislation and subsequent formation of two separate committees (for admission and fixing the fee), the health minister said with clear guidelines in force for seat allotment in medical education sector, there was no scope for exploitation and corruption like in the past.
“In self-financing medical education sector, Kerala has the lowest fee structure in the country,” she said.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the LDF government failed to cash in on the opportunity it received to cleanse the self-financing medical education sector making use of the transparency in seat allotments and fee structure brought in under the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) regime.