Medical students at two medical colleges – Chitwan Medical College and Bhairahawa-based Universal Medical College – have padlocked their colleges after said colleges failed to return the additional fees charged upon the students.
MBBS students at CMC on Sunday padlocked the Education Unit of the college, claiming that the college failed to respect the agreement reached on September 21 with the agitating students to withdraw their indefinite protest.
According to the agreement, Chitwan Medical College was due to refund all the additional fees extracted from the students by November 4. However, the college has not yet returned any amount as the dispute to either return the money or adjust the disputed amount emerged.
The college has altogether collected Rs 220 million additional fees from MBBS students between the academic years 2017/18 and 2018/19. And it has been learnt that students are demanding the college to adjust the fees of MBBS first-and- second year’s students and refund the additional fees of MBBS third-and- fourth year’s students.
On the other hand, it is said that the college administration is not willing to refund any amount to any students. They are of a view to adjust the fees of MBBS students enrolled in the academic year 2018/19.
In a similar case, MBBS students and other medical students at Universal Medical College have been demanding the college authority to return the additional fees taken from them.
The students as well as intern doctors at the college have given a 24-hour ultimatum to fulfil their demands. Intern doctors are also demanding to address their demands – intern doctor are getting paid half of the paycheck set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
In spite of the directive by the government to return the additional fees to the agitating students, the colleges have not abided the order.
The Ministry of Education on Monday warned those alleged colleges to refund the extra money to the students within 15 days. Or the government will file fraud cases against the colleges.
Meanwhile, a probe report by the National Vigilance Centre has revealed that nearly Rs 3 billion extra fees was extracted from medical students under 24 headings from the academic year 2015 to 2018.
