Govt ultimatum to medical colleges to return extra fees

Kathmandu, September  23

The government has given a month’s ultimatum to medical colleges to return the extra fees taken from students.

At a meeting held in the presence of Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Minister of Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel, the Ministry of Home Affairs today decided to take action against medical colleges if they failed to return the extra charges taken from students within a month.

The meeting also decided to file a fraud case against medical colleges under the Medical Education Act, said Sunil Khadka, media coordinator at the education ministry.

Institute of Medicine Dean Jagadish Prasad Agrawal, medical college deans, Tribhuvan University Registrar Sudha Tripathi, Vice-chair of Medical Education Commission Shree Krishna Giri, along with other officials, were also present at the meeting.

“We will take stern action against medical colleges. We could go to the extent of scrapping their affiliation and quota for medical seats,” said Giri.

We sat for the meeting as it was necessary to stop the anomalies and irregularities of medical colleges. Some medical colleges are found to be charging exorbitant fees.

The government had put a cap on the amount colleges could take from students. A Cabinet meeting, last year, had capped the fees for MBBS course at Rs 3.85 million in Kathmandu valley and Rs 4.24 million outside the valley. However, colleges are found charging extra money under different headings.

Chitwan Medical College students had staged protest nearly three weeks ago after they were told that those who had not paid extra dues would not be allowed to sit for the examinations. They have ended their protest with the signing of an agreement in the District Administration Office on September 21.

Medical students and activists expressing solidarity with the agitating students had staged a peaceful protest on Saturday in Kathmandu demanding stern action against medical colleges charging exorbitant fees from students.