Kathmandu, March 26

The Parliamentary Education and Health Committee today decided to form a sub-committee to investigate allegations against medical colleges of charging extra fee from students.

Chair of panel Jay Puri Gharti announced that sub-committee would investigate all 21 medical colleges of the country.

Recently, a team of Nepal Medical Council found that Gandaki Medical College Teaching Hospital and Research Centre, Pokhara, charged extra fee from MBBS students. The NMC formed a probe committee after receiving complaints from students.

As per the government-set fee structure, colleges in Kathmandu valley can charge not more than Rs 38.5 lakh from students, while colleges outside the valley can charge not more than Rs 42 lakh from students.

The probe committee, which submitted its report to NMC on February 27, stated that the college was found charging extra fee from students in the name of annual fee, library, transportation and field visit. On March 22, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology directed those colleges to return extra fee charged from students.

However, Chair Gharti said even the government had been working on it. Talking to The Himalayan Times, panel member Yogesh Bhattrai said the sub-committee would not only investigate into allegations that medical colleges charged extra fee from students, but also see whether these colleges meet the criteria set by the government.

“We have decided that the sub-panel will also look into whether these colleges meet the requires criteria. If we find that colleges do not meet the required criteria, we will ask the government to scrap them,” he said.

Meanwhile, a PAC sub-panel today started discussion on the arrears of the Ministry of Defence. Coordinator of sub-panel Birodh Khatiwada said they had starting looking into arrears of MoD.

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