Kerala orders MBBS fee be charged for 4.5 years, not 5, following NMC directive
The Kerala Health and Family Welfare Department has ordered that the fee for the MBBS course at every government and self-financing medical college in the state be charged only for the prescribed academic duration of four and a half years, not five. The order, G.O.(Rt) No. 2326/2026/H&FWD dated 17 July 2026, was published on the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) portal on 24 July 2026 and applies both to students currently studying and to those admitted in the coming rounds.
Why 4.5 years, not five
An MBBS degree runs for five and a half years in total: four and a half years (54 months) of academic study, followed by one year of compulsory rotating internship (CRMI). The National Medical Commission, in its Public Notice CDN-13011/1/2026 dated 7 April 2026, directed all medical colleges to charge tuition only for the 54-month academic period. The internship year is not an academic teaching year, so it should not carry a tuition fee. Kerala’s order puts that directive into effect for its colleges. The state cites the Supreme Court rulings in the T.M.A. Pai, Islamic Academy and P.A. Inamdar cases, which require fees to be reasonable, transparent and matched to the facilities actually provided.
What the order does and does not settle
The order fixes the billing period. It does not, by itself, publish new rupee figures for private colleges. Kerala’s Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC) has been asked to refix the fee structure for self-financing medical colleges in line with the NMC directive, so the revised annual and total figures for private colleges will come in a separate FRC notification. Government college fees, set by the state, are affected only in that they too are now billed over 4.5 years.
The refund question is still open
The NMC had also asked the Director of Medical Education to refund the excess fees colleges already collected for the fifth year. That refund is on hold. M.O.S.C. Medical College Hospital, Kolancherry, challenged the NMC’s refund letter, and on 19 June 2026 the Kerala High Court stayed it for three months in WP(C) No. 16663 of 2026, allowing the college to collect the FRC-fixed fee for the time being. Whether students get money back for fees already paid will depend on the final judgment in that case.
What students and parents should do now
If you are entering an MBBS seat in Kerala this year, expect the fee to be quoted for 4.5 years rather than five once the FRC publishes the revised structure; wait for that notification before assuming a specific amount, since the exact figures are not out yet. If you or a family member is already paying an MBBS fee at a Kerala college, keep every fee receipt, because any refund of the fifth-year component will hinge on the High Court outcome and you will need proof of what was paid. Our Kerala MBBS colleges and fees page lists each college with its current fee and seat details.