Only Punjab domicile students eligible for MBBS admission in state

Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, June 7

Much to the shock of thousands of aspirants for the MBBS course, the Punjab Medical Education Department has changed the admission criteria and that too just a day after the NEET result was declared.

Now, only those having a domicile of Punjab are eligible for medical colleges in Punjab, reads the new notification for the MBBS and BDS-2019 admission in the state.

The condition contradicts the earlier notification, according to which only those who have passed their Classes 10, 11 and 12 from Punjab were eligible for the MBBS course from the 2019-20 session.

Many parents in government service had shifted their children to Punjab in 2016 so that they could study Classes 10 to 12 from Punjab to be eligible as per the March 2016 notification. The change in the admission eligibility criteria has come as a shock to many.

Apprehensive of the move, some parents had written to the Chief Minister three days ago, urging him not to change the notification at this stage when a large number of students had taken the education route as per March 2016 notification, which was to be implemented from 2019-20.

However, with the new notification, the admission criteria in Punjab is now akin to that of the neighbouring states. So far, Punjab was not sticking to the domicile condition and many students from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were taking double benefit--of their state on the basis of domicile and that of Punjab on the basis of passing Classes 10 to 12 from here.