Bill to regulate fees of private medical colleges

Why in news:

• The Rajasthan government will bring in a bill called ‘The Rajasthan Private Medical Institution Fixation of Fee Bill’ in order to regulate the fees of private medical colleges in the state.
• A draft has been prepared and currently a panel headed by a retired high court judge is studying the fee structure of private universities in other states.

Key Points:

• Rajasthan Health Secretary said that for the determination of the fees of private medical colleges; a fee regulation committee has been constituted as per the direction of the Supreme Court, which will decide the fees of private medical colleges.
• The fee determination of private colleges is with related universities because of which a difference of fees has been noticed.
• The government has prepared a draft bill in which all private colleges irrespective of the fact they are run by private universities or Rajasthan University of Health Sciences – should have a common mechanism of fee determination.
• The government has made a committee led by a retired high court judge, which will determine the fees of all the medical colleges.
• The Bill has been prepared to bring uniformity as private medical college fees have a lot of variation. After legal and financial examination, the Bill will be tabled in the house.
• A member of the committee constituted by the health department, Dr Sudheer Bhandari, principal SMS Medical College, said the committee will study the fee structure of various private colleges in other states.
• According to the committee member, the need arose as some people felt that these private universities were charging high fees, which the committee would study on logical and practical basis.
• It is pertinent to note here that the state has six private universities which conduct medical courses.