In an interval of three years, there was an increase of 81 per cent in the number of eligibility certificates that the Medical Council of India issued to students who wanted to study MBBS abroad, reveals an RTI reply. While 3,398 received eligibility certificates from March 2015 to March 2016, the number shot up to 17,504 in the interval of January 2018 to December 2018.
From 2016-2017, the number of certificates was 8,737 and it was 14,118 from 2017 to 2018. Interestingly, the number of students who registered for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) increased by 14.4 per cent. This might mean that fewer number of medicine seats in the country could be the reason for youngsters to migrate to other countries.
“As per the recent data, nearly two lakh more candidates are going to take the NEET exam in 2019, a growth of 14.4 per cent from last year. The entrance test for MBBS/ BDS aspirants saw registrations soar to a record 15.19 lakh candidates as against 13.26 lakh. The number of students has increased but the number of seats remains the same leading to tougher competition. It is for sure that students who will not secure a Government seat are likely to go to foreign medical colleges owing to lower fees, good quality education and better opportunities,” said Saju Bhaskar, President and Founder, Texila American University.
The cost factor
Surveys show that the cost of Medical Education in government colleges in India is comparatively lesser than the cost in other countries. The tuition fee per year in the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, Delhi is Rs 1,000, while in the other six AIIMS, the fee is Rs 5,500. In State-run medical colleges, the fee varies from Rs 250 per year in Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi to Rs 80,000 per year in the Government Medical College, Patiala. In private colleges, the cost varies from Rs 3.5 Lakh to Rs 50 Lakh a year.
In the top countries preferred by Indian students for education the average tuition fee for an Undergraduate Medical course are — Rs 30 Lakh in the USA, Rs 28 Lakh in the UK, Rs 17 Lakh in Australia and Rs 17.5 Lakh in Canada.
