Punjab: New act to regulate MBBS, BDS, BAMS fees at private medical colleges
Faridkot: To end the tyrannical stance of private medical institutes with respect to the MBBS fee structure in the state, the new amendment the Punjab Private Health Sciences Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Act of 2006 has been put into action. Now the Act is- Punjab Private Health Sciences Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Amendment Act 2020.
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.
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.
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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.
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