KATHMANDU, JANUARY 2

The Ministry of Home Affairs has written to various district administration offices asking them to take action against erring medical colleges which have been accused of charging exorbitant fees from students.

The MoHA has written to Chief District Officers of 12 districts instructing them to take action against medical colleges after MBBS students started raising voice against unjust rules introduced by the colleges to collect exorbitant fees.

As per MoHA sources, the directive was issued to the CDOs of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Morang, Sunsari, Dhanusha, Parsa, Kaski, Chitwan, Rupandehi, Banke, and Jumla to take action against the erring medical colleges. It has also asked the authorities to sue the colleges if they do not comply with the existing rules.

The students of MBBS have been complaining that various medical colleges across the country have demanded extra fees from them. They are also said to have received threats from the college administration to pay the hiked fees under various titles, failing which they won't be allowed to sit for the exam.

Following the threats, students had staged protests outside the college. The protests attracted wide range of support from all the sectors.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology also became serious about the issue and later wrote to the MoHA. The Mo- HA's letter has been sent to the Prime Minister's Office and the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Education and the Medical Education Commission.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 3, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.