Thiruvananthapuram: The director of medical education (DME) has convened a meeting of all the private medical college managements on June 12 to discuss the National Medical Commission (NMC) directive that excess fees collected from MBBS students should be refunded. The NMC directive has come following complaints that medical colleges charged fees beyond the prescribed duration of the course.The directive was issued to DME, asking it to take steps to return fees collected for an additional six-month period from students. NMC has pointed out that the collection of excess of fess is in violation of the statutory provisions contained in the NMC Act 2019.As per the directive, it is learned that the fees will have to be refunded for those who secured admission after 2020, and it will be applicable for both the govt and private medical colleges. The private medical college managements will have a huge liability if they are forced to pay the refund.However, a govt decision on this will be final. The DME is expected to submit a report to the state govt after the discussion with the private managements.The action pertains to the practice of collecting five years’ worth of tuition fees for the MBBS programme, even though the academic course duration is four-and-a-half years. NMC has instructed the department to ensure that only fees corresponding to the prescribed course period are charged and to issue necessary directions to medical colleges in this regard.The commission had earlier issued a circular stating that colleges should collect fees only for the four-and-a-half-year duration of the MBBS course. The latest directive follows complaints that several institutions continued to charge students for an additional period in violation of these guidelines.The development is likely to bring relief to thousands of medical students and their families who had raised concerns over the additional financial burden imposed by the fee structure.
