Punjab Govt ends fee disparity in private medical colleges

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 8

A week after completing the first round of counselling for admissions in postgraduate medical courses (MD/MS and MDS) in the state, the Department of Medical Education and Research and Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) on Friday informed all medical and dental colleges about the new amendment the Punjab Private Health Sciences Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Act of 2006.

As per the amendment, the state government shall regulate the admission, fix fee and make reservation for different categories in admission to private health sciences educational institutions, which include all medical, dental, Ayurvedic and homeopathic colleges in the state.

For 671 MD/MS (clinical and basic) and over 1,100 MBBS seats in the state, there is a huge disparity in the fee structure in private medical colleges.

While CMC and DMC, Ludhiana, and Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College, Amritsar, charge Rs 6.5 lakh per annum as tuition fee for MD/MS (clinical), the fee in Adesh Medical College, Bathinda, has been fixed at Rs 14.90 lakh per annum.

So far, the fee in Adesh Medical College is determined by the Adesh University Act, 2012. However, in all other private and government medical colleges, it is fixed by the state government. Now, after the new amendment, the fee in Adesh University will also be governed by the state government.

Jagdev Singh, registrar, Adesh University, said he had heard about the new amendment but had not got a copy of it so far.

Fixation of fee structure and reservation in private colleges had remained a controversial issue. While three government medical colleges in the state charge Rs 4.4 lakh as full-course tuition fee for MBBS, in some private medical colleges, it is up to Rs 70 lakh.

The government has exempted Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College and CMC, Ludhiana, regarding their reservation policy in minority-category seats.