Punjab: New act to regulate MBBS, BDS, BAMS fees at private medical colleges

Recently, the Punjab state Department of Medical Education and Research and Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) officially informed all medical and dental colleges about the same. With this amendment, the state government will finally regulate the charges of private health sciences universities so that students don't have to pay an exorbitant fee.

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

The gazette issued to this effect clearly states the following:

In the Punjab Private Health Sciences Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Act of 2006 (in section 2)

(i) after clause (d), the following clause shall be inserted:

"health sciences" in the Act means an education leading to impart Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) and/or their Post Graduate(s) and such other level of course(s) pertaining to health and medical education, as may be notified by the State Government from time to time

(ii), for clause (i) the following clause shall be substituted:

private health Institutions/Universities means an institution, not established and administered by the Central or State Government and it Includes an institution, by whatever name called, including any University, Deemed University or college, whether aided or unaided, non-minority and administered or managed or run by an individual or individuals or Trust or any other private entity, agency or organization, which institution conducts or carries on the activity of imparting education to students leading to a degree or diploma in any course or courses in the field of Health Sciences

To view the gazette in detail, click on the link below:

There are over 1,100 MBBS seats in the state. 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, adds Tribune

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that the Punjab Government had decided to regulate the fee structure of the private medical colleges. The state government had sought an amendment to the Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Act, 2006, to include all those private medical universities that have spread out rapidly over the past one decade. The Act sought to provide for the regulation of admission, fixation of fee, and the making of reservation in private health sciences educational institutions in the state of Punjab and for the matters connected therewith.

Read Also: Punjab: MBBS fee at Private Medical Universities to get REGULATED

The state government had formed a three-member committee to review the fees of those private universities in the state.

The cabinet took note of issue relating to the high fee being charged from medical students by private institutions and directed the committee to study the matter in detail, along with other relevant concerns with regard to such institutions, which have cropped up in large numbers across the state in recent years.

From 2012 onwards, many private medical colleges were constituted in private health sciences universities and they challenged the fee fixed under the 2006 Act in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on the ground that it was applicable to private health sciences institutions and not to the private universities.

The High Court had last year accepted their plea and held that private health sciences universities are not covered under the 2006 Act.

Read Also: MBBS Fee In Punjab Private Medical Universities: Rs 2.2 Lakh Pa For Govt Quota, Rs 6.6 Lakh For Management Quota