By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 27: The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has clarified that the recent notice regarding the examination fees for undergraduate courses was not an unreasonable charge to the students.
Issuing a notice on Sunday, the IOM informed the medical colleges affiliated to the Tribhuvan University that the fee for regular exams of undergraduate medical courses is Rs. 9,000 per student while the fee for supplement exams is Rs. 3,000.

Following the notice, medical students and their associations protested against the new fee structure citing that it was almost a fourfold increase from the earlier one.
“We were earlier charged Rs. 2,500 as regular examination fees by the college. Now, the IOM notice states that the examination fee is Rs. 9,000,” said Anit Sinha, a final-year MBBS student at Gandaki Medical College.
National Medical Student Association (NMSA), an association of MBBS students, also released a statement on Monday demanding that the IOM withdraw the decision of increasing the examination fees.

“We will be forced to take stringent measures if the examination fee isn’t reduced,” read the statement by NMSA.
However, officials of IOM informed that the notice was to clarify the fee structure and would only be applicable to new batches of undergraduate courses.
“The examination fees for regular and supplement exams are not extra charge from the students. The directed fee is to be submitted by the medical colleges from the total fee ceiling set by the government for respective medical courses,” said Dr. Dibya Singh Shah, dean at IOM.

Around five months ago, the government had increased the fee structure for medical courses citing inflation. The fee for MBBS courses was set at Rs. 4,023,250 for colleges within the Kathmandu Valley – up from Rs. 3.8 million; and Rs. 4,436,025 for those outside – up from Rs. 4.24 million.

“The fee structure doesn’t have a proper breakdown. The recent notice for examination fees is to make clear the amount to be paid by colleges for examination services which will be provided from TU and IOM,” Dr. Singh told The Rising Nepal.
According to Dr. Singh, the students will not be charged any more than the fee ceiling. “If students are asked bigger amount than the fee ceiling, they can file a complaint at TU or IOM or the Medical Education Commission.”