Private colleges in Maharashtra have received the State Government’s permission to charge up to five times more than the regular fees set by the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) for the management quota undergraduate and postgraduate seats in Ayurvedic, Homeopathy, and Unani Medicine courses.
Due to this revised fee structure, which shall be applicable from the academic year 2024-2025, the fees for these seats under the management and Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota at self-financed medical colleges can increase by around 15 per cent.
Therefore, the revised fees for the management quota seats in BAMS, Homeopathy, and Unani courses could be as high as Rs 13.5 lakh, whereas, the normal fees for the general category seats is around Rs 2.75 lakh.
As per the notification issued by the Government in this regard, the fee structure was revised after a request from the association of private, unaided medical colleges in Maharashtra.
As per the previous rules, the colleges were allowed to charge only two times of the fee amount approved by FRA for general admission.
The Government’s decision of increasing the fees has sparked backlash from the aspiring students, their parents and students organisations as they have argued that this fee hike will make a significant number of medical seats unaffordable for many aspirants, Indian Express has reported. “The fee structure for BAMS, Unani, and Homeopathy under the institution quota is set to skyrocket with this decision. The government is making these seats inaccessible to middle-class students,” as aspirant told the Daily.
Meanwhile, critics have also questioned the viability of such high fees for BAMS, BHMS, BUMS courses, which are not as popular as mainstream MBBS courses.
According to education activists, this year the high fees for MBBS courses at private medical colleges had led many students to opt for BAMS, BHMS courses instead.
Commenting on the matter, Sudha Shenoy, a medical education activist pointed out that due to the complications arising regarding the NEET UG results this year, the cutoff was higher than usual and this affected many aspiring medical students. “Now, the government seems to be shutting all doors for students, which is both unfair and one-sided,” Shenoy added, further highlighting the fact that the State has not secured approval for additional MBBS seats from the National Medical Commission (NMC). This, coupled with the fee hike, is creating further troubles for both the medical aspirants and their parents.