Thiruvananthapuram: Uncertainty looms over the admissions to self- financing medical colleges as the talks between the government and the management association failed on Monday. Health Minister K. K. Shylaja did not agree to the managements’ demand for a uniform fee structure. She told reporters here after the talks that the Government cannot agree to the demand that less fees should be charged for 50 percent merit seats.
Kerala Private Medical College Management Association is expected to hold talks with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to reach a consensus. The government had made it clear that it will not appeal against the High Court decision. An appeal would delay the admission process which would be against the interest of students as Medical Council of India’s deadline for completing MBBS and BDS admissions is on September 30.
The government rejected a new formula which said that out of 50 percent seats, Rs 25, 000 fees should be charged for 20 percent seats. KPMCA office-bearers demanded that for the remaining 30 percent seats more talks should be held to finalise the fee structure. Not only that, increased fee structure has to be implemented in the remaining seats, they said.
“Another demand is that there should be an increase of Rs 15 lakh – Rs 20 lakh for NRI seats. Since the health minister has not agreed to our formula, we will hold talks with the chief minister on Tuesday,” said Mr Anilkumar Vallil, secretary, KPMCA. Meanwhile, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi and SUT Medical College, Vattapara, have closed the application process where the first stage of admission has been completed. The KPMCA is planning to announce the merit list on September 1 and the first allotment will be published on September 3. It plans to complete the admission process by Septemebr 9.
The prospectus also says that the second allotment will be published on September 14 and the final admission process will be completed on September 28. The government had earlier cancelled the agreement with dental college managements for BDS courses in the state as they pointed out that uniform fee fixed in the agreement was against the interest of students. However, those pressing for a uniform fee structure pointed out that Kerala Christian Professional College Management Federation was allowed to collect uniform fee for both government quota and management quota by rectifying the three-year agreement entered by them last year with the previous UDF government.
