The problem prevails as the DME has not sent a communication to medical colleges, says officials
Despite regulations exempting SC/ST postgraduate medical students from paying annual tuition fees, several government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu have charged them and failed to issue refunds. In fact, many doctors who have recently completed their three-year MD/MS courses are still awaiting reimbursement.
Inquiries with several such doctors revealed they had paid ₹30,000 towards tuition fee for the first year (2021) and are yet to get a refund. In a medical college in north Tamil Nadu, the PGs paid tuition fees for all three years amounting to a total of ₹90,000 each; subsequent batches also shelled out the fees.
Some senior doctors, who have been flagging the issue, pointed out this remains unresolved for the past few years owing to official apathy.
The fee relief for SC/ST and converted SC Christians pursuing post graduation in government medical colleges was initially withdrawn in January 2021 as they received stipends from the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and Research. However, the concession was restored in 2023.
The Additional Chief Secretary, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, in a letter to the Director of Adi Dravidar Welfare dated January 13, 2023, said the order on withdrawing fee relief was revoked and called for measures to refund the tuition fee for students affected in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. This was followed up with at least two communications from the Directorate of Adi Dravidar Welfare to the DME pointing to the restoration of fee relief for SC/ST students pursuing MD/MS/MCh/DM and seeking details for the purpose of refund. But little or no action was taken by the DME, doctors said.
A doctor, who completed PG recently said, “No information about the exemption was provided then and we only received messages or circulars from the college to pay the fee within the stipulated date.”
Another doctor pointed out the allotment order for PG seats are issued only after payment of tuition fee at the time of admission. Doctors shared documents of their complaint lodged with the Chief Minister’s helpline portal on refund of tuition fees for students of 2021 and 2022 batches, and how the lack of clarity was forcing them to pay fees for the subsequent years. While they received a reply in January 2025 stating that instructions were issued to all deans of medical colleges under DME to return the fees collected from SC/ST students for the academic year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, there has been no headway.
Affected doctors said when they raised the issue with their respective college administrations, they were told there was no official word from the DME on fee exemption/refund. One or two institutions refunded the fee nearly 15 days ago, while the others continued to delay for want of clarity. Some DM/MCh candidates of a medical college received the refund.
On its part, the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association has made a number of representations to the DME’s office. “The problem prevails as the DME has not sent a communication to medical colleges. No tuition fee has been reimbursed from 2021. This is nothing but official apathy,” a doctor said. Officials of the DME did not respond to repeated calls.
Published – March 31, 2025 11:10 pm IST
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