AIIMS Bathinda classes at Faridkot college from Aug 26

Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, August 22

After about a month of delay, the classes for MBBS first batch of AIIMS Bathinda are all set to begin on August 26. The classes will be held at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College (GGSMC), Faridkot, a constituent college of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences.

The first batch will have 53 students. With the AIIMS building in Bathinda still under construction, the first batch of this new medical college will start at Faridkot college for this session. The classes will be shifted to Bathinda next year.

Offering a total of 1,205 MBBS seats, most of the 15 AIIMS in the country begin classes in the last week of July or first week of August. The reason for the delay at AIIMS Bathinda is late recruitment of the teaching faculty.

Inordinate delay in admissions on 150 MBBS seats at GGSMC is another reason for holding up the AIIMS classes here. The authorities had planned to start the classes for the fresh batch of both AIIMS and GGSMC students at the same time, as they have one campus, but separate faculty.

While the three rounds of admission for AIIMS Bathinda had already been completed by AIIMS, New Delhi, the final round of counselling will be completed on August 26. However, MBBS admissions in all eight medical colleges in the state, including GGSMC, is still hanging in balance as the state has challenged the micro reservation in five private medical college.

While August 31 is the last date, fixed by the Medical Council of India, to complete the admission process in all medical colleges across the country, Punjab is yet to start the process. The medical education department is hopeful of the Supreme Court deciding the micro reservation issue on August 23 (Friday), the next date of hearing in the case.