Pvt medical colleges prescription for medicos' woe : Submit bond for exam hall-ticket

Hyderabad: There seems to be no end to problems for medicos and private medical colleges.

If it was about the insistence of bank guarantee by college managements for first-year postgraduate (medicine) students and blocking of seats that led to an uproar among the doctors' fraternity until recently, freshly on Monday another issue cropped up. The PG medical diploma

(Child Health, Dermatology, Radiology, anaesthesia etc) students, who are to appear for their final year exams (two-year course) from Tuesday, are asked by college managements to students to submit written bonds for issuing hall tickets.

This unexpected move shocked the PG students, who came to their respective colleges in the morning to collect hall tickets. The college managements asked the students to give in writing that they would pay later the balance amount of the fees.

The fee in private medical colleges witnessed a steep hike (convener fee Rs 6.9 lakh per annum, management quota fee Rs 25 lakh per annum, NRI quota fee Rs 75 lakh per annum) in 2017-18 academic year.

The students approached court which gave them a relief by allowing the students to pay only half of the amount until final judgment is given. Accordingly, medicos joining three-year PG (medicine) and two-year PG (medical diploma) paid only half of the increased fees.

The court is yet to pronounce its final verdict in the case and in the meantime PG diploma students, who are completing their study, were told to give bonds that they would pay the balance amount later.

Some of the aggrieved students brought the issue to the notice of HRDA (Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association), which told the students to heed to managements' directive for the time being to obtain the hall tickets to appear for their final year exams.

One of the students, who did not wish to be named, stated that the issue was resolved by late afternoon and hall tickets were issued. Commenting on the issue, HRDA (Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association) president Dr K Mahesh Kumar was critical of the demand of the private medical colleges as court case was still pending. He further said the bonds forcibly collected by colleges have no legality in court.