Punjab unlikely to get new med college before 2027
The incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had promised to open 16 new government medical colleges in Punjab during its five-year tenure. The state government had decided to avail of the Centre's scheme with a 60:40 fund-sharing ratio to build medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.
The Centre, way back in 2014, had floated a centrally-sponsored scheme (CSS) for 'establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals,' with preference to underserved areas and aspirational districts, where there is no existing government or private medical college. The fund-sharing mechanism between the Centre and state governments is in the ratio of 90:10 for North Eastern and special category states, and 60:40 for all other states. Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur medical colleges have been approved under this scheme.
However, with the work on these two approved government medical colleges yet to start, the state has decided not to apply to the national medical commission (NMC) for setting up any new government medical college for the 2026-2027 academic session.
Confirming the development, health minister, Dr Balbir Singh, said that the government's plan to award a tender to a private company to upgrade these district hospitals and construct new buildings for a medical college failed as tenders could not be materialised.
'Now, we are working out to finalise a new system to construct medical colleges on our own, which will be much cheaper. I am hopeful that we will be able to start construction of new medical colleges this year,' said Dr Balbir Singh,
A senior official in the medical education department, who didn't wish to be named, said that tenders were floated for the proposed medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.
'However, the process could not materialise as the bidders failed to meet the technical requirements, particularly the necessary experience to execute projects worth ₹500 crore. As such, we will not apply for a new medical college this year. I think it will take some time to start the construction,' he said.
As per the norms, the state government has to apply a year before it aims to start admissions for MBBS in the month of October. With no new request from the state government for this academic session, it's unlikely that a new medical college will become functional before August 2027.
Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur were perhaps the easiest colleges to make functional for the government as they only required upgrading the existing district hospitals and construction of college buildings.
In contrast, the other proposed medical colleges at Malerkotla, Sangrur and Nawanshahr would first require substantial investments with the construction and operationalisation of 350–500 bed hospitals before applying for new medical colleges.
Seeing no headway, the government seems to be mulling over changing its tactics and going for an effective model, where a college with just 50 MBBS seats is attached to the upgraded district hospital, reducing the entire cost of the project.
'I think we will be able to open 4-5 medical colleges before our tenure ends in 2027. If needed, we will try to start a new medical college with 50 MBBS seats, and then upgrade it. For 50 MBBS seats, the required bed strength for a hospital is less, and they just need a building to start a medical college,' he said.
Besides the infrastructural requirements, the government also needs to hire teaching faculty, which could be a tough task for the government because existing medical colleges are already facing a faculty shortage.
The minister said there were some complexities regarding the land initially identified for the Malerkotla medical college. 'Now, the Punjab Waqf Board will purchase land for us to build the medical college. The land for the proposed medical college in Sangrur had been almost finalised, with only a few formalities remaining. For the Nawanshahr medical college, the government is planning to develop it under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode,' he said.
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