Patna, Nov. 10: The state health department is mulling a steep rise in fee of postgraduate degree and diploma courses offered in government medical colleges.

Dr N.P. Yadav, the controller of examinations, health department, told The Telegraph: “The state has kept fee for PG degree and diploma seats at just Rs 279 for over 50 years. It is too meagre and we are proposing a substantial hike. The proposal is in the draft stage. It will be sent for approval of higher authorities once we give it a final shape.”

Yadav, also the principal of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), said doctors could be charged Rs 25,000 during admission to the postgraduate degree courses. The annual fee could be Rs 15,000.

The PG diploma students might have to pay Rs 21,000 at the time of admission and Rs 15,000 per annum.

“This way, the three-year postgraduate degree course students will have to pay Rs 70,000. The postgraduate diploma course students will have to shell out Rs 51,000 in two years,” Yadav said.

He added: “The fee structure of postgraduate medical seats has not been revised for decades and it is high time we bring it at par with the MBBS course fee. At present, MBBS students at government medical colleges have to pay Rs 8,500-9,500 at the time of admission and Rs 6,000 per semester. The postgraduate medical students should be charged more than that because the number of seats are fewer.”

There are total 428 postgraduate degree and diploma course seats in four out of six government medical colleges in the state. While PMCH and Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital have been offering postgraduate courses for long, 12 seats were introduced in Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Patna, and Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital, Gaya, this academic session.

Two other government-run medical colleges — Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital, Muzaffarpur, and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital — do not have postgraduate seats.

The postgraduate medical students gave a mixed reaction on the issue. “We are okay with the idea of an increased fee structure, but the government should increase our stipend. While most of the states pay Rs 50,000 per month, we are paid just the half though we virtually run the hospitals in the medical colleges,” said a postgraduate student of PMCH.