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Medical education costs may double in the next decade—are you prepared?
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
The cost of medical education in India outside the 108 functional government-owned medical colleges is prohibitively high. What’s worse, the cost is likely to double in the coming years, according to a February 2024 report by analysts at Anand Rathi, a Mumbai-based financial services firm.
Over 2 million students in India apply for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and only 56% of them qualify.
It’s not enough to score well to secure a seat; there’s immense pressure on the NEET applicants to be closer to the top to be eligible for a pocket-friendly government college.
The cost of medical education in India outside the 108 functional government-owned medical colleges is prohibitively high.
What’s worse, the cost is likely to double in the coming years, according to a February 2024 report by analysts at Anand Rathi, a Mumbai-based financial services firm.
An MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) course costs, on average, ₹5 lakh and a postgraduate course costs ₹15 lakh. This could rise to ₹11 lakh and ₹15 lakh, respectively, by 2035.
Despite a 110% increase in MBBS seats in the country over the last decade, analysts say the education cost in India has increased by 11–12% in the previous ten years, at about twice the rate of overall inflation.
If the annual increase continues at 12%, the cost will double in six years. “In today’s day and age, a general MBBS degree does not fulfil the professional aspirations of students. A postgraduate degree costs another set of lakhs. A student spends close to a crore to become a specialised doctor,” says Atul Thakkar, the author of the Anand Rathi report.
The four-year MBBS degree at Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital & Research Centre in Pune costs approximately ₹2 crore, according to Dr Pravin Shingare, former Director of Medical Education and Research, Govt of Maharashtra.
The skewed demand-supply scenario inevitably drives the cost of medical education higher in private universities.
As of December 2023, there were 1,08,848 MBBS seats in government colleges and over a million applicants. Over 2 lakh applicants line up for just 68,000 postgraduate seats.
“The government itself spends nearly ₹35 lakh per student every year,” Shingare added.
Those who don’t make it to the government colleges must opt for 598 private outfits where student fees subsidise treatment facilities. Medical colleges in India are mandated to have hospitals on campus where patients get treated at a subsidised rate.
The high cost drives many medical students to other countries, such as Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, China, Germany and Gulf countries where the courses are cheaper. Over 30,000 Indian students went abroad for medical studies in the last year.
While the government of India is trying to bring down the cost of medical education by increasing the number of seats in new colleges—tax incentives are also under consideration—the number of applicants will only go up given the country’s young population, whose aspirations grow with the economy.
“The best possible way to start planning for kids’ future education is when they are born,” Suresh Sadagopan, founder of ladder7 wealth planners, told CNBC-TV18.
The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, started by the government in 2015, is a debt investment plan with tax rebates where investors can expect about 8% returns. The saved amount goes to the child tax-free.
There are many mutual fund plans tailored for this goal with a track record to beat inflation.
| Fund name | 3-year-return | 5-year-return |
| SBI Magnum Children’s Benefit Fund – Saving plan – Direct Plan – Growth | 13.09% | 11.10% |
| UTI CCF Savings Plan – Direct Plan | 10.52% | 9.30% |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Bal Bhavishya Yojna – Direct Plan – Growth | 13.92% | 12.30% |
| HDFC Children’s Gift Fund – Direct plan | 19.96% | 17.28% |
| SBI Magnum Children’s Benefit Fund – Investment plan – Direct Plan – Growth | 32.61% | |
| Axis Children’s Gift Fund – No lock-in – direct plan – growth | 11.19% | 12.94% |
| Axis Children’s Gift Fund – compulsory lock-in – Direct Plan – Growth | 10.96% | 12.75% |
| ICICI Prudential Child Care Fund – Direct Plan – Gift Plan | 20.31% | 15.46% |
| UTI CCF Investment Plan – Direct Plan – growth | 16.22% | 15.51% |
| Tata Young Citizens fund – Direct Plan – growth | 18.5% | 17.46% |
Sadagopan says, “If there are plans to study abroad, investing in international funds can protect the funds against rupee depreciation”.
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