Self-financing colleges should not collect fees during internship: TN Minister

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Wednesday, April 23, said self-financing medical colleges should not collect any fee during the internship period from medical students, and action will be taken if any complaint is received from an aggrieved student. Subramanian said this while replying to a discussion on a calling attention motion raised by leader of the opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) C Vijaya Baskar, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) MLA SS Balaji, Tamilaga Vaazhvurimai Katchi MLA T Velmurugan and others, stated a report by The New Indian Express . Referring to the allegations levelled by Vijayabaskar, Balaji and Velmurugan about the collection of excessive fees for medical courses, including internship fee by self-financing colleges, Subramanian said the fee fixation committee can take action only when complaints from individuals are received.

He also recalled how Chief Minister MK Stalin, when he was leader of the opposition, led agitations protesting the governor's delay in approving the 7.5% government quota for undergraduate medical courses. When Subramanian said the AIADMK government issued a Government Order (GO) for 7.



5% quota only after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) agitations, the AIADMK members objected to it. Deputy leader of the opposition RB Udhayakumar said Palaniswami was the only CM in the country who issued the GO using Article 162 (co-existence of legislative powers) for a 7.5% government quota.

Countering it, Subramanian said since the DMK staged a massive demonstration against the governor's delay in giving assent to the bill providing for a 7.5% quota, the AIADMK government issued the GO to pacify students who were agitated due to National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) irregularities..