NAIHS to readjust extra fees taken from medical students

Kathmandu / Dec. 1: Nepali Army Institute of Health Sciences (NAIHS) has decided to readjust the extra fees it had charged on the MBBS students as per the agreement reached between the government and representatives of various private medical colleges.

According to a press statement issued by the Directorate of Public Relations and Information (DPR&I), the decision to this effect was taken by a meeting of NAIHS Board of Directors held on Friday.

The NA-owned NAIHS is among a dozen of medical colleges to exploit students by charging extra fees.

It has also objected to a clause in the agreement that said that the students from older batch, notably 2016-17, 2017-18 batches, would be reimbursed based on the finding and recommendation of a to-be formed panel under the Medical Education Commission (MEC).

“A decision has been taken to readjust extra fees charged in the academic year 2016-17 of the sixth batch as per the letter received from the Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicines on November 27, 2019 and take new fees from the students batch number 7 enrolled in 2017/18 academic session as per the fees recommended by the office of IOM Dean,” NAIHS said in a statement issued on Friday.

On Tuesday, the government and representatives of medical colleges had signed a two-point understanding to return or readjust undue fees charged on the MBBS and BDS students.

The medical colleges, including NAIHS have been charging up to Rs. 5.5 million to each student for the five-year course.

As per the government rules, medical colleges in the Kathmandu Valley cannot charge a medical student more than Rs. 3.85 million and those colleges outside the Valley Rs. 4.245 million. A report of the National Vigilance Centre (NVC) had found that around a dozen colleges had collected at least Rs. 3 billion from students in the last academic session.

The colleges were found to have taken additional Rs. 800,000 than what was prescribed by the government.