LAW KUMAR MISHRA
PATNA; Bihar government has decided to increase number of seats in medical colleges from next academic session. At present,there are 18500 MBBS seats in both private and government medical colleges in the state.
Health minister, Mangal Pandey,while replying to a calling attention notice on plight of medical students from Bihar in Ukraine,said it is proposed to have 24 medical colleges in the state.
He said the admissions in MBBS coyrses in both private and government medical colleges are made following results of the NEET at the national level and even fees structure is decided by the union health ministry
Pandey said it is proposed to have fees structure in 50 per cent of the seats in private medical colleges at par with the government medical colleges. Justice Akhilesh Chandra committee has been set up to report on fees structure in the medical colleges.
There are 900 students from Bihar enrolled in different medical colleges in Ukraine,So far 308 students have returned to Bihar and resident commissioner of Bihar Bhawan was in constant touch with the ministry of external affairs to arrange safe return of the remaining students.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said since the fees for medical education in India was quite heavy,students opted for MBBS classes in Ukraine where fees were quite low.
He suggested that union government should treat it as a national issue because students from all over India were preferring education in medical colleges in Ukraine only because fees structure was comparatively cheaper than Bihar.