Medical fee hike: D K Shivakumar keeps options open

Bengaluru: Private medical colleges, which are demanding a 30 per cent hike in fees for the 2018-19 academic year, on Monday rejected the government's stand on the issue, as the talks with Medical Education Minister D.K. Shivakumar remained inconclusive.

Mr Shivakumar told reporters later that private medical colleges are demanding a whopping 30 per cent hike in fees, which is not acceptable to the government.
“We will hold another round of meeting with them and take a decision keeping the interest of students in mind. We are ready for an 8-10 per cent hike. All doors are not closed yet and the negotiations will continue. We have called for a second round of meeting in a day or two,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Karnataka Fee Regulatory Committee (KFRC) had capped the fee hike at 8 per cent, refusing the demand from private medical colleges to hike the fee by 30-50 per cent.

“We will hold a meeting with deemed universities that are running medical colleges and discuss the fees structure," he said.

At Monday’s meeting, members of the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation and Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges' Association demanded a 30 per cent hike in fees for institutional and government quota seats. They submitted a list containing fee structures from other states and argued that it is the lowest in the state.

In February, the state government had entered into a consensual agreement with private medical colleges, fixing the fee hike at 15 per cent for postgraduate medical and dental seats and 10 per cent for undergraduate seats.

However, t he he KFRC, chaired by former High Court judge Justice D.V. Shylendra Kumar, had capped the fee hike at 8 per cent and directed the managements to refund any differential amount to the students.