Bengaluru, 2 Sept

Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Monday set up a fee regulatory committee to monitor and regulate the fee structures in nursing colleges across the State amid the issue of exorbitant fees was reported at the nursing colleges.

Speaking at the review meeting held in Vidhana Soudha Patil revealed that his office had been inundated with complaints from students and parents regarding the excessive fees charged by nursing college. He said, “In response, we have formed a five-member fee regulatory committee, headed by the Joint Secretary of the Medical Education Department which will scrutinize the fee structures of these colleges to ensure compliance with government-prescribed limits.”

The Minister issued strict instructions to department officials to withdraw the Essential Certificate & Feasibility Certificate (EC&FC) of any nursing college found imposing fees beyond the prescribed limits.

Currently, the fee structure for nursing courses stands at Rs 10,000 for students admitted under the government quota, Rs 1 lakh under the management quota, and Rs 1.40 lakh for non-Karnataka students. Despite recent requests from nursing college managements to increase the fee structure by 20 percent the minister has rejected the proposals.

There are 35,000 seats available across 611 nursing colleges in the state.

The oversight of the fee structures will cover both B.Sc. Nursing and General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) diploma programs. Additionally, Patil directed the Principal Secretary of Medical Education, Mohammed Moshin, to coordinate with district Deputy Commissioners (DCs) for inspecting the infrastructure and basic facilities at GNM colleges at the taluk and district levels.

For B.Sc. Nursing colleges, the minister instructed the Director of Medical Education, Dr BL Sujatha Rathod, to form a panel for inspection and submit a prompt report. - Salar News