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Medical study made costly

Private colleges charge huge 'development fees' to shut doors on students from middleclass families

Mahbuba Zannat
Admission fees at private medical colleges in the country have gone up toTk 8 lakh to 12 lakh, which is I k 2-3 lakh more compared to those of the previous year.
Private medical colleges in the name of development fees' are taking such exorbitant sums from the students.
Half of those who came to the top of the merit list had to give up on the admission this year as they couldn't afford to pay such big chunks of money.
"As half of the seats at 38 private medical colleges are yet to be filled we have called 6000 students from the list for the second time and the admission will continue till the end of this month," said Khondoker Shefayetullah, director of Directorate General of Health Services.
As it is quite impossible for most of the middle-income families to pay the amount at a
time, most of the good students are either opting to go for general education or seek admission into sub-standard medical colleges.
Bangladesh Medical College this year is charging Tk 12 lakh, which was Tk 10 lakh last year. Ibrahim Medical College is taking Tk 10 lakh, Northern International Medical college Tk 8.51 lakh, East West Medical College Tk 9.20 lakh, Ibne Sina Medical College Tk 9.33 lakh, National Medical College Tk 8.50 lakh and Holy Family Medical College Tk 9.75 lakh, medical colleges sources said.
Some medical colleges are alleged to be making quick bucks by means of management quota. As per so-called management quota system the management pick students from the merit list at will.
These students have to pay a lot more than the development fees to get a place at the institution. Ten percent of the seats are reserved for fromPAGEi the management.
"A famous private medical college has put management quota up for 'auction' and Tk 20 lakh taka was demanded against a seat there," an aggrieved parent seeking ano-nymity said, adding that when meritorious students cannot get admitted because of want of money the others are just buying it and the government is doing nothing in this regard.
While collecting an admission form from Bangladesh Medical College and Hospital yesterday Faria lebin said. “One of my friends from Viqarunnisa Noon School and College had to choose a low-quality medical college as her parents cannot afford to pay a large sum."
“My best friend got admitted to a private engineering university as he failed to pay the amount private medical colleges are demanding. His dream of becoming a physician was dashed," said Sumi while collecting a form from Northern International Medical College in the city's Dhanmondi that is charging Tk 9.50 lakh at one go this year.
When asked about the so-called development fees'. Principal of the medical college Prof Dr Mohammad Anwar Hussain said they had increased
the number of clinical teachers necessitating more expenses.
"Since its inception in 2005 we have received only Ik 10-12 crore from the students' development fees. But the fact is we had to invest aroundTk 40 crore to buy a piece of land for the hospital and its equipment." said Dr Anwar.
“Perhaps after two to three years when the medical college turns into a full-fledged hospital we might be able to trim down the development fee," he added.
About regulating the education fee at private medical colleges the government officials however said that a six-member committee headed by Joint Secretary of the Development and Medical Education Abu Taher was formed to look into the matter.
"After three meetings the committee decided to limit the 'development fee' to Tk 8 lakh but it was not implemented." said Khondoker Shefayetullah, director of Directorate General of Heal th Services.
This year, for the first time, the admission test was held centrally on the same question paper at 38 private medical colleges in an effort to improve the quality of private medical education in the country.