The National Medical Commission (NMC) invited applications for setting up new medical colleges to start undergraduate (UG) courses for the academic year 2026–27, with January 28 as the deadline. However, Punjab will not apply for permission this year as it has not completed the mandatory requirements laid down by apex regulatory body.
According to a senior official from the Punjab medical education department, the state does not yet have the essential certificates needed to apply for a new government medical college.
Also read- Punjab awaits Medical College in Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur
Requesting anonymity, he told HT, "The department is not applying for any new government medical college this year as we don’t have the essential certificate. It will take eight to 10 months to fulfill the NMC requirement to apply for a new medical college."
The state government had earlier proposed to upgrade district hospitals in Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala into medical colleges. However, the upgrade process has not started due to delays in awarding tenders. As a result, both proposals remain on paper.
Medical Dialogues in 2024 also reported the same where even after submitting a proposal to establish two medical colleges by upgrading two district hospitals in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur of Punjab, no work had started to upgrade the hospitals.
During the first budget session in 2022-23, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had proposed to establish 16 new medical colleges in Punjab over the five years of their tenure. But, even after two years of governance, no progress has been made toward the establishment of any new medical colleges in the state.
This delay means that MBBS aspirants in the state will continue to have limited options within the state. At present, Punjab has only four government medical colleges compared to seven private colleges, with private institutions accounting for nearly 60% of the total MBBS seats.
Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences in Mohali was the last government medical college in Punjab which was started in 2021 under the previous Congress government. The said medical college in Mohali had come up after a gap of 48 years.
Confirming the hurdles in applying for new colleges, a senior official said, "There was a delay in awarding tender for upgradation of district hospitals in Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala due to some issues. We are looking for other options to start a medical college.”
Notably, the department will have to fulfil a long list of NMC requirements before applying for a new medical college. The minimum requirements for setting up a new medical college are that the number of hospital beds required for 100 admissions annually is 500, the minimum teaching faculty is 85 and providing hostel accommodation for at least 75% of the total student intake at the college or institute.
Meanwhile, Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh said four to five medical colleges, including three government colleges, were in proposal.
When asked about the proposed government medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, Dr Balbir Singh said, “Tender for upgrade of the Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur hospitals will open by the end of this month. Thereafter, work will start. Besides these two colleges, we have got land clearance from Punjab Waqf Board to establish a college in Malerkotla.”
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said the AAP government had failed to establish even a single government medical college so far. He said the government focused only on advertising.
Also read- 4 new medical colleges to come up in Punjab
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