The prospectus for MBBS, BDS courses this year has indicated that students will have to pay higher fees.
Students in government medical and dental colleges will pay ₹2,000 more this academic year as compared to last year. This year the students of MBBS will pay ₹6,000 as tuition fee and the total fee will be ₹18,093 as against ₹13,610 last year.
Similarly, BDS students will pay ₹4,000 this year as against ₹2,000 last year. Dental students will pay annually ₹16,073. Last year students paid ₹11,610,
The fee fixation committee will determine fees for self-financing colleges, however. It is expected to be higher as well. There is no change in the fee structure in ESIC College.
As many as 3,900 aspirants to medical education have registered and 1,200 have completed fee payment to participate in the online counselling for MBBS, BDS seats in the State on the opening day of online applications by the Directorate of Medical Education.
A total of 78,693 candidates have qualified in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test held in May 2023. NEET scores will also be used for admission to para medical and Ayush programmes (except Yoga and Naturopathy).
The prospectus is more elaborate than last year’s, both for government quota and management quota seats. “We have added glossary of terms, frequently asked questions section and provided diagramatic representation of counselling. A tabular column about how the students can use the counselling process has also been given,” said R. Muthuselvan, selection secretary.
Candidates must submit a certificate from their school heads to substantiate their claim of having studied in the stated schools. Last year the students were asked to submit a letter from the Chief Educational Officer as well. This clause has been eliminated. The prospectus has also dispensed with the need for parents to provide identification proof.
As of now the State has 5,050 seats of which 15% will be surrendered to the Director General of Health Services for all India pool. Officials say though three new self-financing colleges have claimed that they have received approval from the National Medical Commission, they are awaiting formal communication from the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University. Meanwhile, ESIC College in K.K. Nagar has been given an additional 50 seats, which increased its strength to 175 seats.
“We require seat matrix details from the University,” Dr. Muthuselvan added.
The DGHS is yet to open its web portal but has instructed that all States must conduct counselling simultaneously. The last date to submit applications is 5 p.m. of July 10. The first round of counselling is expected to be held by the second or third week of July and classes would commence for first year students on August 1.
