Punjab govt’s proposal to set up two medical colleges yet to take off

Though the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in their first budget for 2022-23 proposed to set up 16 new medical colleges in the state in five years of their tenure, no new medical college has come up even after two years of their government.

The Punjab government is learnt to have already given a proposal to set up two medical colleges by upgrading two district hospitals in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. However, the work to upgrade the hospitals has not started.

It would be impossible even to start a new government medical college before 2026 given the infrastructural and faculty requirements of the National Medical Commission (NMC), say experts.

The NMC, an apex regulating body in the country’s medical education, on March 14 uploaded a list of new medical colleges starting MBBS admissions from the upcoming sessions in the country, with none from Punjab.

As of now, there are 10 medical colleges in the state. Of these, only four are that of government-run institutions and the rest are in private hands thereby making medical education unaffordable for MBBS aspirants belonging to humble backgrounds.

Komal Mittal, Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner, said, “We have floated the tender for the fourth time to upgrade the district hospital by relaxing some of the stipulated norms. With the election code of conduct coming into force, the tender will be awarded after a few months.”

Similarly, Kapurthala DC Amit Kumar Panchal said that they had already floated tenders four times, but it hadn’t been materialised so far.

Notably, every year, any state government has to apply for a new medical college by October to the NMC to start medical college for the next session.

As no tender could be finalised in the coming months because of the election code of conduct in place, it seems impossible for the government to complete all the requirements and apply for the new medical college to the NMC by October.

“Considering the present situation, we will not be able to apply for new medical college this year too,” said a senior official of the medical education department who wished not to be named.

Punjab medical education minister Dr Balbir Singh had earlier told HT that they would try to complete all the required formalities and apply to the NMC for new medical colleges this year.

It has been learnt that besides the infrastructural requirements to set up the new medical colleges, hiring teaching faculty for new medical colleges would be a tough task for the government because the existing medical colleges are already facing faculty shortage. Mohali Medical College recently received a notice from the NMC over faculty shortage and might not get approval to admit MBBS students this year. Hindustan Times