No fee hike for medical courses amid NEET retest stress, says Medical Education Minister

Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil addresses a press conference at his residence in Kalaburagi on April 18, 2026. File Photo | Photo credit: ARUN KULKARNI

The Karnataka government has decided not to increase the fees for medical, dental, undergraduate and postgraduate courses for the current academic year.

Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Friday officially announced that there will be no hike in fees for medical courses for the academic year 2026-27 after a meeting with management representatives of private medical and dental colleges.

At a press conference on Friday, the minister said, “In view of the stress and anxiety faced by medical seat aspirants and parents due to NEET re-examination, we have not accepted the fee hike proposal proposed by the management of private colleges.”

“The same fees set last year will continue this year as well. This rule applies to both government and private medical colleges,” the minister said, appealing to students and parents not to pay attention to speculations related to medical seats.

Highest number of seats

Dr. Patil further said that Karnataka has the highest number of medical posts in the country. “With the addition of 550 MBBS seats in state medical colleges this year, the total number of seats has increased to 14,495. Post-graduate medical seats have also increased by 572. Earlier, it was 7,687,” he said.

The increase in the number of medical posts will also see financial assistance of ₹1,036 crore from the Union government. The Union Government has agreed to provide funds that will be used for infrastructure development at universities, the minister said.

Published – 12 Jun 2026 22:31 IST