MBBS Fees At AIIMS Can Increase From Rs 6,000 To Rs 70,000; Students Say They Won’t Allow This

We are very familiar with the government hiking prices of commodities and services on a very regular basis now. Not only in the service sector, the government has spread its wings of price hikes in the education sector as well.

About a couple of months back it was announced that the fee hike for M.Tech in government colleges of India will be revised by 900% and shall result to Rs 2 lakh per year. Yes, it is a 900% fee hike. Not only were the students highly dissatisfied, many were also of the view that students who actually want to study and couldn’t afford tuition, would be the ain victims of such situations.

Now, similar news come in for the highly prestigious institution and medical facility of India, AIIMS Delhi and its adjoining branches across the country. While the deadlock over The CIB has decided to review tuition fee of students and also fix uniform user charges for patients in all AIIMS. in JNU continues, the government has quietly begun the process of reviewing fee structures in all AIIMS institutions.

Govt Contemplates on Hiking Fee for AIIMS

The very renowned AIIMS institutions in the country are known for offering the least expensive medical education in the country with just about Rs 6,000 charged per student, including tuition, hostel and all other charges for the whole duration of the MBBS programme. 

Along with this, it also offers highly base level user fee charges for patients. These are currently highly subsidised at AIIMS institutions. The CIB has decided to review tuition fee of students and also fix uniform user charges for patients in all AIIMS.

According to officials in the Human Resource Development ministry, the plan is to raise fees to up to Rs 50,000- 70,000 per year for MBBS.

The Central Institute Body (CIB), which is the top decision-making body of the AIIMS, has asked institutes to furnish details of the cost incurred and revenue generated by November 25.

Only after evaluating the inputs, a decision will be taken on how to revise the fee structure and charges for consultations, tests and procedures from patients.

The Government’s Side to This

At present, the government gives nearly Rs 3,500 crore to AIIMS-Delhi per year and Rs 300-500 crore each to 14 other functional AIIMS. An internal analysis on cost of education by AIIMS-Delhi sometime back had found that the government spends over Rs 1 crore per student for the MBBS course there.

The government wants these institutions to at least generate Rs 70-75 crore every year through charging for MBBS programmes and patients services. Currently, AIIMS-Delhi generates only Rs 2-3 each crore.

The move, however, has caused discomfort among students, who said investment in healthcare and education should not be based merely on “business calculations”.