Bengaluru: Government medical college students in Karnataka may be in for a shock as the government is likely to hike the fee by 200-500%. Medical education minister DK Shivakumar told the legislative council on Tuesday that the government is mulling a fee hike.

MBBS fee could be hiked from Rs 17,000 to Rs 50,000 and post graduate fee could be increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh.

The government is also planning to open NRI quota seats in these colleges in the coming academic year, DK Shivakumar told the council during the ongoing winter session in Belagavi.

He was responding to a question from SV Sankanur, BJP MLC. Sankanur also asked the government to implement the National Pension Scheme for medical college staff. The hike in fee will help facilitate providing pension for the staff as well as better infrastructure in these colleges, the minister said.