Chandigarh: Students aspiring for admission to MBBS in private unaided medical colleges in the state will now have to cough up over Rs 60 lakh as tuition fees even after clearing NEET. The Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has proposed Rs 12 lakh fee per annum with a hike of 5 per cent per annum.

Chandigarh: Students aspiring for admission to MBBS in private unaided medical colleges in the state will now have to cough up over Rs 60 lakh as tuition fees even after clearing NEET. The Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has proposed Rs 12 lakh fee per annum with a hike of 5 per cent per annum.

MM Institute of Medical Sciences, Mullana, run by MM University and SGT Medical College run by a private university, are already charging Rs 75 lakh and Rs 90 lakh, respectively, for MBBS.

The colleges are likely to hike their fees further, as they have been given free hand to decide the fee on their own.

Sources say that the DMER had earlier prepared a case to bring these two medical institutes under the Haryana Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions, Fixation of Fees and Maintenance of Educational Standards) Act, 2012 through an amendment during the Budget session.

But the BJP government, which has been favouring these two colleges, rejected the proposal citing shorter duration of the Assembly session and in the process gave the colleges free hand to decide the fee.

In the provisional fees announced by it for the private unaided medical colleges and institutes of health sciences for this year, the department has proposed over 70 per cent hike in the fees for MBBS, 50 per cent increase for BDS and a similar raise for other courses in private unaided medical colleges and institutes. Last year, the department had proposed a hike of 20 per cent.

The department has sought representations on the fees till July 15. A notice issued in this regard stated that the fee structure was provisional and subject to approval of the state government.

The proposed fee for BDS Course is Rs 3 lakh per annum against the existing fee of Rs 2 lakh and for BAMS and BHMS it is Rs 1.50 lakh per annum against the current Rs 87,000.

The fee for BPT, MPT, BSc (Nursing) and MSc (Nursing) courses has also been increased. Additional Chief Secretary (Medical Education and Research) Dhanpat Singh says that measuring the hike in terms of percentage could be misleading, but the proposed fee has been announced after due consideration of circumstances, which include hike in salaries after the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.