Calcutta, Aug. 9 : Two medical bodies have opposed the government's move to introduce capitation fees for admission to three new medical institutions to be set up shortly in the state. The government has indicated that 50 per cent of the 350 new medical seats in the proposed colleges at Midnapore and Malda as well as at SSKM Hospital will be for students who pay a hefty amount. 'The government could have enhanced the annual fees. But introducing capitation fee is unjust. Meritorious students from low-income families will miss out due to this decision. We will shortly meet government officials to discuss the issue,' said Subir Ganguly, India Medical Association's Bengal branch president. The president of the West Bengal Medical Council, Ashok Chowdhury, has described the development as 'undesirable.' At present, a student has to pay Rs 212 as session charges for the five-year MBBS course and nothing at the time of admission. Of the 905 seats in the seven existing colleges, 540 seats are in the general category while the remaining seats are mainly reserved for the Scheduled Castes (22 per cent), the Scheduled Tribes (6 per cent) and all-India candidates (15 per cent). 'After all the reservations and now with the introduction of capitation fees, a middle class student who fares well in the JEE will not be able to get admission to the new medical colleges. As it stands now, only 540 students in the general category could make the cut this year. We were told that the new colleges would accommodate more students from the general category,' an IMA spokesman said. According to the rules being envisaged for the new colleges, 35 per cent of the seats will be for students with lower rankings in the JEE while 15 per cent will be reserved for children of NRIs. The students will have to cough up a proposed Rs 1.5 lakh each for admission to the colleges as well as for each session of the course. These candidates will not have to appear for the JEE but can join for a payment of Rs 30 lakh for the entire course. 'If things work out well, we may introduce capitation fee from the 2004 session in some other colleges as well,' said a health department official. 'Gone are the days when medical education was available for a handful of rupees. We have to keep up with the changing times,' said director of medical education C.R. Maity. Though a recent Supreme Court verdict approves introduction of capitation fees, Maity said it was not mandatory. 'But we will implement it in the state.' State CPM secretary Anil Biswas justified the move, saying medical education could not be imparted for 'as low as Rs 12.' Expenses have gone up and will go up further, he added. 'In order to meet this resource crunch, we will have to introduce this system. But the changes will not make such education go out of reach of common people.' Capitation fees for medical education in other states are charged by private institutions. 'Bengal will perhaps be the first state where government colleges will be doing so,' said the president of the West Bengal Medical Council.