The Health Ministry is considering to set Tk15 lakh as the ceiling on the admission fee for MBBS and BDS courses at all private medical and dental colleges soon. The monthly tuition fee could also be set at between Tk8,000 and Tk10,000.
The ministry is unlikely to allow any institute to charge anything extra in the name of development fees or miscellaneous charges.
Of the total admission fee, Tk13,80,000 will be considered tuition fees and the remaining sum will be counted as intern fees.
The admission fee ceiling was discussed on Sunday at a meeting at the ministry attended by experts and it is expected be finalised soon. Aiyubur Rahman, additional secretary of medical education and manpower and also the head of the tuition fee regulation committee, presided over the meeting.
A four-member committee was earlier formed to set the admission fee ceiling and it invited senior medical professionals to Sunday’s meeting to hear their views on the subject.
Aiyubur yesterday refused to give any details, saying the final decision should be taken first.
Professor Dr M Iqbal Arslan, secretary general of Bangladesh Medical Association and also a member of the committee, told the Dhaka Tribune the proposed amount was discussed and the ministry would take the final decision.
Professor Dr ABM Abdul Hannan, director of medical education at the health directorate, said the final decision would be taken following the health minister’s return from the US.
The health minister was a member of the prime minister’s entourage to attend an assembly of the UN, and is expected to return today or tomorrow.
At present, there are 5,325 seats at 56 private medical colleges and another 1,280 seats at 23 dental colleges.
Seeking anonymity, an official of Bangladesh Private Medical College Association told the Dhaka Tribune the proposed ceiling would not be a suitable figure.
He said: “We heard that Tk1,20,000 will be counted as intern fee which means it will have to be returned to students during their internship. Besides, if public medical colleges spend Tk22-24 lakh for each student during the entire course period then how the private ones can manage with Tk15 lakh?”
A member of the fee regulation committee said the private institutions charge students Tk18-30 lakh, with the average being Tk21 lakh.
“Many institutions enrol students mentioning Tk9-12 lakh as the total cost but, after admission, they charge a huge sum in the name of development fees, exam fees and others,” he added.