Puducherry: Fee committee urged to fix fee after private medical colleges address concerns

V Balasubramaniam, Chairman of the fee committee for medical colleges in Puducherry, has been requested to not increase the fee for the current academic year courses until the present concerns are addressed by the private colleges.

This request was put forth by the Puducherry State Student and Parents Welfare Association, according to a report by The New Indian Express. 

In a memorandum which was addressed to the chairman, the association president requested that the number of seats under the government quota, infrastructure, and financial reports should be considered. 

One particular concern was the decision by a few private colleges to stop offering government quota seats for postgraduate (PG) students from the 2024-25 academic year.

Currently, this issue is under review by the government and the Lieutenant Governor (LG).

The association says that as per the regulations laid down by the National Medical Commission (NMC) regulations for 50% seats under the government quota, the disparity in government quota seats offered by private colleges in Puducherry was just 35% compared to neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, which allocate 50% to 65% of seats to the government.

To take care of these concerns the Puducherry State Student and Parents Welfare Association proposed that a helpline be started for students and a monitoring committee be set up, at the helm of which will be a retired Superintendent of Police (SP), under the direction of the fee committee.