Kathmandu, October 20

The Association of Private Medical and Dental Colleges has warned that colleges will not admit new students this year even though the Medical Education Commission had increased fees for medical studies. The association, issuing a press release on Saturday said it would not admit new students until their demands were met.

The association has said rise in tuition fees for MBBS and BDS programmes by the Medical Education Commission was not acceptable as the revised fee structure was one-sided and was announced without any discussions with owners of private medical colleges.

“The decision made on fee hike is one-sided, unscientific and impractical. The association’s meeting on Friday decided not to accept the commission’s decision,” it said.

The association had earlier warned that there would be no new admissions until their demands were met. It had demanded that medical colleges be given 150 seats for MBBS and 75 seats for BDS programmes, respectively.

The government has decided to allot 100 seats for MBBS and 50 seats for BDS programmes.

The association has also demanded that procedures for admission of foreign students be eased and the report submitted by the parliamentary committee on education and health be implemented, at the earliest.

It has also demanded that a clear policy on admission of foreign students be framed before medical colleges started admitting students.

The association had also submitted a memorandum and keys of medical colleges to the prime minister, minister of education, science and technology, minister of health and population, vice-chair of the Medical Education Commission and vice-chancellors of universities on September 24.

On October 18, the Medical Education Commission had revised the fee structure.

As per the revised fee structure, a Nepali student pursuing MBBS programme inside Kathmandu valley was required to to pay Rs 4.02 million in fees for a five-and-a-halfyear course, up from Rs 3.85 million in the last fiscal.

A student pursuing MBBS outside Kathmandu valley, on the other hand, was required to pay Rs 4.44 million in fees, against Rs 4.24 million in the last fiscal.

The MEC had set fees for five-and-a-half-yeard, Bachelor’s in Dental Surgery at Rs 2.02 million, up from Rs 1.93 million, in the last fiscal.