The Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress has objected to the idea of privatising the Medical College in Tura stating it would transform the institution into a profit-driven enterprise.
“Privatising Tura Medical College threatens to transform it into a profit-driven enterprise, where the focus is no longer on public welfare but on maximising corporate profits” Youth Congress President Timjim K. Momin said.
He said that there are risks to privatisation as it would reduce transparency and accountability in the management of the institution, irregularities in admissions, which may disproportionately favour wealthier students over local, deserving candidates.
While there would be a significant increase in fees, making medical education unaffordable for middle-class families and the indigenous population, the youth Congress said, dreams of countless young people, especially from Garo Hills and surrounding areas, who view this medical college as their only chance to pursue a medical career, would be shattered.
The youth Congress cited instances on how Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in medical institutions like Rajasthan led to fees hike from Rs 7.5 lakh to over Rs 15 lakh annually. Even in West Bengal, KPC Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata, established under a PPP model saw fees escalate to Rs 22.5 lakh under the state quota and up to Rs 1.5 crore under the NRI quota, it stated. Similarly, students in PPP medical colleges in Karnataka are required to pay over Rs 10 lakh per annum, which is far higher than government-run institutions, whereas in Odisha, PPP-mode colleges have faced widespread criticism for opacity in fee structure and admissions processes.
“These instances underscore the risks of privatising public institutions, where students from disadvantaged backgrounds are systematically excluded due to high costs,” the youth Congress said.
It also warned that the Meghalaya government should recognise that the Assam Government’s experiment with privatisation should not serve as a benchmark for Meghalaya. “Assam has a large number of government medical colleges, offering multiple opportunities for students to access quality medical education. In contrast, Meghalaya will have only one state government medical college—Tura Medical College,” the Youth Congress said.
