Valley
MBBS fees proposed to start at Rs3.4m
A panel formed to revise the medical education fees has recommended Rs3.4 million to Rs4.6 million for the MBBS course based on the seats approved for a college by the Nepal Medical Council.A panel formed to revise the medical education fees has recommended Rs3.4 million to Rs4.6 million for the MBBS course based on the seats approved for a college by the Nepal Medical Council.
The government had formed the taskforce led by former member of the National Planning Commission Shiva Kumar Rai to review the charges.
The panel submitted its report to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Saturday.
In its report, the panel has set Rs3.4 million as the fee to be charged per student by a college that can enrol 150 students. For colleges with 135 seats, the proposed fee for the five-and-a-half-year course is Rs3.58 million.
A college that has facilities for 150 students but is able to enrol only 100 students due to government policy can charge as much as Rs4.6 million from each student. Rai said that the Prime Minister’s Office would make the details public soon. The Cabinet has to endorse the fees.
As a majority of private medical colleges have more than 100 MBBS seats allocated by the Nepal Medical Council, they tend to accrue profits by charging hefty fees from students. Generally, medical colleges have been found to be charging Rs4-5 million from MBBS students.
Committee members seeking anonymity said the colleges can charge international students 50 percent extra.
According to the Health Profession Education Bill, which has been tabled in Parliament, colleges with domestic investment can enrol foreign students in one third of the seats while those established with foreign investment can have foreign students in half of the total seats.
Amid criticisms of the hefty fees charged by private medical schools, the government four years ago tried to intervene, to no avail. Another committee had set the fees at Rs2.8million for the MBBS programme and Rs1.7 million for a dental course. But no suggestions were implemented.
Another experts’ committee led by Kedar Bhakta Mathema, former vice-chancellor of the Tribhuvan University, in its Health Profession Education Policy, proposed Rs3.5 million as the MBBS fee and Rs 2.2 million for the BDS course, payable in two installments.
The Mathema committee’s recommendations were also not implemented as the colleges rejected the fees decided without consulting with them.