The government will initiate action if private medical colleges do not return the extra payment they charged over the fee set by the government within a month.
A meeting at the Home Ministry on Monday including Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel and officials of the two ministries took the decision after discussion on the complaints that the medical colleges are charging extra amount above the fee set by the government.
The meeting has publicly urged the medical colleges to return the extra money within one month, and decided to take action against the colleges for failing to do so within the deadline.
Home Minister Thapa said political resolution and legal action both will be moved forward to get the extra money returned. Education Minister Pokharel pointed at the Cabinet decision taken last year that allowed registration of complaints against the offending college at the local district administration office concerned, and proposed that action be taken accordingly.
Students of Chitwan Medical College and Gandaki Medical College of Pokhara have been agitating after the colleges defied the government instruction to return the extra payment it charged over the fee set by the government.
The Cabinet meeting on October 14, 2018 had set a fee of Rs 3.85 million for MBBS students inside the Kathmandu Valley, and Rs 4.245 million outside the Valley. The colleges can only charge Rs 2,500 and Rs 500 in registration fees on top of that, and hostel and mess charges if the students stay at their hostel. But colleges have been charging up to Rs 5.50 million from each student.
The Education Ministry on March 26 had instructed private medical colleges to return the extra money if they have overcharged after agreement reached in the meeting of agitating students of Gandaki and representatives of the association of private medical colleges including chairman Basuruddin Ansari and promoter of Chitwan Medical College Haris Chandra Neupane called by Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel.
But the colleges including Gandaki and Chitwan Medical College have yet to return the extra money and are still putting pressure on students to pay above the fee set by the government.
The meeting of the two ministers was held on Monday to address the demands of agitating students.
