Karnataka govt hikes postgraduate medical, dental course fees by 30 percent

Karnataka government hiked the postgraduate medical and dental fees for the 2020-2021 academic year, an order issued the Medical Education Department said on Friday, According to the order, PG medical and dental fees for institutional quota has been hiked by 30 per cent in private medical and dental colleges.

The fee increase in both medical and dental streams would be 20 per cent for government quota seats in private colleges. ''A committee headed by the Additional Chief Secretary had recommended a rise of 30-40%. However, considering the current situation, it was decided that we keep the increase at 20%,'' , Director of Medical Education PG Girish said. There was however no change in the fees in government medical colleges, the order stated.

Sources in the department said that the hike was inevitable as both dental and medical college managements had claimed that they would not be able to meet the infrastructure requirements and pay salaries to their staff if there were not allowed to increase the fees.

A clinical seat in a government college would cost Rs 1.1 lakh, a government seat in a private college Rs 7.1 lakh and a private seat in a private college Rs 11.5 lakh a year. Last year, the figures were Rs 1 lakh, Rs 5.8 lakh and Rs 8.7 lakh, respectively.

The lowest fee is for anatomy, physiology and biochemistry: Rs 38,900 in a government college, Rs 1.02 lakh for a government seat in a private college and Rs 1.6 lakh for a private one in a private college. Subjects like pharmacology, pathology, microbiology, community medicine and forensic medicine cost Rs 63,900, Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.9 lakh, respectively, in these quotas. Last year in private colleges, para-clinical courses under government quota cost Rs 1.5 lakh and private quota Rs 2.2 lakh. The fee was Rs 72,738 and Rs 1.09 lakh for pre-clinical courses. There was an increase of 15 per cent in 2019-20 and 2018-19, the order added. There are 3,164 PG seats.